If Glee Had Been Formatted Like Skins
by malexfan13
Summary: Basically what the title says. A year or "season" in the Glee-verse, with an "episode" of emphasis on each member of ND as they live out their Junior year. AU. Pairings in the A/N. First up: Sam deals with moving to McKinley.
1. Sam Part 1 of 3

**IMPORTANT A/N: **

**This is something I've been working on for a while and decided to start posting even though right now I'm about on the 4th Glee character's chapters, or 4th "episode". This story is modeled after the TV show "Skins", which, if anyone is unfamiliar with it, is a show about a group of kids that gives each kid their own episode each season. Each kid's episode is mostly all about them and is titled their name. For example, the 2nd episode of season 4 is titled "Emily" and centers around the character of Emily.**

**So in this story, each Glee character is going to get their own "episode", which should last about 3-4 chapters total. I'm probably just going to cover about one school year in the Glee-verse, but this is AU so season 1 of Glee never happened, although this story takes place in what is presumably everyone's junior year (ignoring RIB's ret-con of Tina's age, etc.) It'll basically just follow New Directions over the course of that year and will cover Sectionals, Regionals, Nationals, Prom, etc, just like a season of Glee would, but with a more in-depth look at each character's lives and personal inner conflicts, things like that. **

**Obviously, none of this is canon, just me having fun with characters I love from a show I love. There will be 13 episodes in all, with 12 characters (early season 2 ND, or season 1 ND but replace Matt with Sam) getting an episode and then an "Everyone" episode at the end. (Blaine is in this story but will not be getting an episode.) If you read fanfic for a certain ship or character, this probably isn't the story for you, although you're welcome to scan through and just read the episodes of the characters you're interested in. **

**I'm not done with the story yet so I'm not completely sure what the endgame couples will be, but for you shippers out there, these are the ships that as of now I'm absolutely sure will be touched on, whether they're endgame or not, and whether it's just a brief fling, a meaningless hookup, or a full-blown romantic storyline: Finchel, Brittana, Klaine, **** Fuinn, ****Samcedes, Puckleberry, Tike, Tartie, Bike, Bartie, Pucktana, and Quam. The first three are most likely endgame but I make no promises. **

**And one last thing: I got bored and made "Skins"-type openings for each "episode", so when one character's chapters for their episode are finished and I've just posted the final chapter, I will go to my profile and post a link to the video for the next episode. So if you want to know ahead of time who's episode is coming up next, you can go to my profile and check that out after you're done reading the final part. Up first: Sam! His video is up already just for giggles if you'd like to watch it anyway. For those of you unfamiliar with "Skins", the openings are always the same except each one ends by showing the character the episode is about, with a different character at the end each time.**

* * *

><p>Sam's eyes shot open to the opening guitar solo of some Metallica song he recognized but couldn't name, and he stared up at the poster on his ceiling as his lips parted and his tongue left his mouth to wet them. He could hear feet padding down the hallway outside his bedroom door, and he slowly sat up, rubbing at his eyes and looking around at his bedroom. Clothes littered the floor and the lone lamp in the room was still turned on, next to where his guitar and sheet music lay. Sighing, he slipped out of bed and turned it off before it caught the house on fire, then shut off his alarm and moved to his window to pull the curtains aside, letting sunlight stream in through the window and replace the lamplight. The calendar on the wall next to him had "1st day WMHS" written in one of the small squares, and he grabbed a marker off the desk across the room and then circled that square with it, before tossing the marker back to its original spot and then turning towards his closet. He stared for a moment, then sighed again, running a hand through his hair and stepping forward to pick out his clothing for the day.<p>

Ten minutes later, he was racing down the stairs, fully dressed with his backpack on his back. His little brother and sister were at the kitchen table eating breakfast, and his mother was in the kitchen. "Hey, Stevie!" he called, catching his brother's attention and raising both hands suggestively. Stevie grinned at him and tossed him the granola bar lying on the table. Sam caught it and nodded a goodbye in his mother's direction, ruffling Stevie's hair on his way out and kissing his sister on the cheek.

"Be careful!" his mother called after him, just before the front door shut behind him.

Once outside, he jogged to the end of the driveway, opening the granola bar on the way, then shoved the end into his mouth and picked up the bike resting at the edge of the road, halfway in the driveway and halfway in the front yard. He slipped onto the seat easily, and without further ado, pedaled his way down the street, granola bar melting in his mouth and backpack bouncing on his back.

* * *

><p>Students were milling about in front of the school by the dozens and Sam examined the crowd apprehensively as he led his bike to a nearby rack, kneeling down to clip it to the rack with a lock. A loud bout of laughter somewhere off to his right caught his attention and he straightened up when he was done, looking over just in time to see a small boy with heavily-gelled hair struggling to climb out of a dumpster while a large group of guys in letterman jackets laughed and jeered at him. The leader, a boy with a Mohawk, was doubled-over and laughing loudest of all, and as a result, didn't see or hear an even bigger set of guys approach until they were lifting him up by the arms and dumping him into the dumpster next to the small boy. The group of guys in letterman jackets laughed louder as the guy with the Mohawk scrambled back up to his feet and shouted, "What the hell, Karofsky!"<p>

The boy named Karofsky high-fived his dark-skinned canning partner and then left in the direction of the entrance to the school. The smaller boy in the dumpster moved to pluck a banana peel off of Mohawk-boy's shoulder, and received a sharp shove in response, sending him tumbling back into the trash while the guy with the Mohawk heaved himself out and brushed himself off, ignoring the laughter from his friends. Sam raised an eyebrow and shook his head as he watched the entire exchange, then hefted his backpack up higher on his shoulder and turned to go inside.

His schedule had said 1st period Mathematics and so he figured the Math Hall would be the best place to start looking for his class. On the way there he passed a loud brunette girl holding up a piece of paper and shouting something about a Glee Club, but he quickly dismissed her and moved on, despite being tempted to check it out. He could sing and he could play guitar, but he'd never done either in front of anyone and he figured it would be better for him to get acclimated to the new school before joining any clubs. The football team was his only safe bet for now.

Luckily, he got through his first few classes okay, and found the lunchroom easily enough. So far, his day had been pretty decent for his first.

As he walked inside, Santana looked up from her spot next to Quinn and Brittany at their claimed lunch table, then smirked at the new blonde boy. "Ooh, new hottie alert."

Quinn scoffed without looking up from the notebook on the lunch table in front of her. "Can you keep it in your pants for _one _second, Santana?"

Brittany smiled on Quinn's other side and nudged her lightly with an elbow, forcing Quinn to let out an annoyed sigh and look up to see what all the fuss was about. She focused on Sam as he moved to stand in the lunch line, hands in his pockets and posture stiff with all the signs of being in an unfamiliar location. Her expression softened and she smiled slightly. "Cute." Santana shot her a knowing look, and she finished, "But not as cute as Finn."

Right on cue, Finn himself appeared across from them and placed his tray on the table, scratching the back of his head as he slipped into his seat. "Quinn, do you know where the Spanish classrooms are? Because I kind of forgot over the summer where Mr. Schue teaches and I ended up hanging out in the choir room until second period was over."

"I thought Mr. Schue taught in the choir room…" Brittany inputted airily as Finn dug into his food and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"See, that's what I said, too. That should totally just be his classroom, anyway. It'd be much easier to find him since we go there once a day anyway."

"Britts and I skipped his class every day last year," Santana told him. "It's not like I don't already know Spanish anyway."

"And I know stuff like 'me gusta' and 'más' because Santana says those while we're-"

"Hey, Finnocence, go get me some artificial sweeteners, would you?" Santana cut off, shooting Brittany a glare. "I can't get down this shit Coach Sylvester is forcing us to eat without them."

"I just don't eat at all," Brittany announced.

"Get it yourself," Quinn answered for him. "He's _my _boyfriend."

"Whatever, bitch." Santana rolled her eyes, got to her feet, and headed for the lunch line, catching sight of Sam again as he finished getting his food and turned to look for a place to eat. She caught his arm as she passed him, getting his attention and tilting her head toward her lunch table. "Hey New Boy, my table's right over there, okay? Go sit down next to the freakishly tall boy with the dark hair and the clueless look on his face and maybe you'll make some new friends."

Sam swallowed, a little intimidated, but nodded his agreement and moved towards the table while Santana headed in the opposite direction. Brittany and Quinn saw him come closer, but Finn was startled when Sam's tray hit the table beside his own with a loud clang. "Uh…your friend told me to sit here."

Quinn muttered something he couldn't hear under her breath, but Brittany smiled kindly and Finn scooted over to make room, so Sam figured he was welcome enough and quickly took a seat.

"So you're new here?" Brittany questioned, placing a hand under her chin. "I was new here once, too." She paused for moment. "Well…I mean, not really, since I went to William McKinley Middle School and then started here with everyone else that was in the same grade as me, but it's, like, the same thing anyway. But different."

Quinn blinked at her, then shook her head slightly. "Just stop talking."

"Okay."

"It's cool that you're sitting here with us," Finn told him with a friendly nudge of his shoulder. "We don't get many new kids here in Lima. I'm Finn, by the way. That's Brittany, my girlfriend Quinn, and the other girl's Santana. Our friend Puck should be here with us, too, but I haven't seen him all day…so I'm not really sure where he is, actually. He's not hard to find, though."

"Yeah, that disgusting Mohawk really makes him stick out in a crowd," Quinn muttered with a wrinkle of her nose. Sam's eyebrows furrowed at that.

"I think he's the kid I saw this morning. He got tossed into a dumpster."

Finn choked on his food next to him and Santana arrived in time to sit down and question, "Who got tossed into a dumpster? Hummel?"

"Uh, I don't know who that is, but…your friend Puck did."

Santana forced a laugh as she reached up to tighten her ponytail. "That's impossible. Look, let me give you a lesson in the McKinley High hierarchy. The Cheerios and the football players – that's us – are at the top. Next come your other jocks, then your scene kids, the hipsters, the Goths, the AV kids and the nerds, and then…_them_." Sam followed Santana's eyes to a table across the lunchroom, the occupants of which included the smaller boy from the dumpster, a heavy-set African American girl, an Asian boy and girl, a boy in a wheelchair, and the loud brunette girl he'd seen that morning in the hallway.

"Who are they?"

"McKinley's biggest losers," Santana told him with a smirk. "The only exception is Mike Chang, the skinny Asian kid. He plays football but he's dating Tina, that loser Goth chick, so he immediately loses dozens of cool points. And see the dark-haired girl, there? That's Rachel Berry, resident Glee Club diva. She's the worst of them all; even the rest of the losers only let her sit with them because she has nowhere else to go."

Sam furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "Why does everyone hate them so much?"

"Because they're in Glee Club," Santana informed him.

"So are we," Finn mumbled defensively, sounding a little hurt.

"But we were cool first," Santana countered. "And we aren't dating any of the losers, like Mike is. Unlike him, we know how to stay on top." Brittany giggled at that, and before Santana could glare at her again, Puck plopped down in the seat on the other side of Finn, his lips turned down in a frown.

"Who's the new guy?" he asked the table, gesturing half-heartedly in Sam's direction. All three girls wrinkled their noses disgustedly in response.

"You smell like shit."

Puck rolled his eyes at Santana. "Yeah, I know. Karofsky caught me off-guard this morning while I was canning Hummel. Fucking Glee Club is _so _not worth another year of this."

Sam fought the urge to smile. "Wait…_you're _in Glee Club, too?"

Puck ignored him, looking to Quinn exasperatingly. "Seriously, who is this kid?"

"This is Tom," Brittany explained.

"Sam," Santana corrected.

"Whatever. He's super fine."

Sam's bite of food nearly went down the wrong way, and Brittany shot him a wink as he rubbed at his throat.

"So since you'd have to kinda have a social death wish to try out for Glee Club, is there anything you_ do _have in mind?" Finn questioned, bringing the conversation back directly to Sam. "Sports teams or something?"

"It's important to find somewhere to fit in. Preferably somewhere not lame," Santana added, pulling a nail file out of her purse and delicately buffing at the nails of her left hand.

"Uh, well…I played football at my old school. Running back."

Finn and Puck raised their eyebrows simultaneously, and Brittany whispered something in Quinn's ear.

"We need a new running back, actually," Puck told him, exchanging grins with Finn. "Our old one, Matt, transferred this year, so we're down one player."

"We're also down one Glee Club member for the same reason," Finn added casually. "If you can sing and you make the football team, you can probably get away with joining Glee, like Puck and Mike and I did."

"I can sing. I play guitar, too."

"Electric or acoustic?" Puck questioned.

"Acoustic."

"Awesome, dude. Same here."

"You should think about joining," Quinn suggested, surprising the rest of the table. She rolled her eyes defensively. "What? If Glee Club doesn't have enough members to compete, Coach Sylvester will have nothing to destroy all year and she'll put more effort into the Cheerios squad instead."

"I pulled my hamstring five times freshman year, when there wasn't a Glee Club," Brittany confirmed with a nod. "She totally pushes us harder when she's not distracted by Mr. Schue and his hair."

"Think about it," Finn said, nodding his agreement. "Football tryouts start this afternoon. So do Glee tryouts, but all you have to do for that is sing a little and you're in as long as you aren't awful or anything."

"Brittany's never even sang and she still got in," Quinn corrected.

"That's true," Brittany muttered.

"She can dance, though," Santana elaborated.

Sam frowned. "I can't."

"Well, all you really need is one out of three: singing, dancing, or a musical instrument. Apparently, you have two out of three. I hear Mr. Schue's pretty desperate anyway," Puck told him. "He'll probably take you whether you're good or not."

"Just make sure if you _do _join, you stick with us and not with them," Santana reminded him, nodding toward the "loser" table. "Otherwise you'll end up like Mike."

The bell rang for the end of lunch and Sam swallowed as the others stood up and moved to leave, his eyes on the group of six across the room. As he watched, another group of guys in letterman jackets approached their table and tossed red slushies onto every one of them other than Mike, who still got hit by some of the crossfire. Sam's eyes widened and he got to his feet, then glanced over his shoulder, in the direction his new friends had just left in. Letting out a controlled breath, he shook his head and tossed his tray into a nearby trashcan, then grabbed his backpack and left the cafeteria.

* * *

><p>Sam took a seat in the back of his next class, Physics, just as the warning bell rang. A minute or so passed and then students began to file into the room, filling up the desks one by one until only a few empty ones remained. Sam caught sight of two kids he recognized from lunch. They were still drenched in slushie but it looked to have dried up a little since then. "I swear to God, Mercedes, if Dave Karofsky ruins <em>one <em>more of my vintage silk scarves with those slushies I'll-"

"Try to beat him up and end up back in the dumpster again?" Mercedes finished for him, chuckling lightly while Kurt sighed in the seat beside her. "Face it, Kurt, we're probably gonna have to deal with this for the next two years. That's the price you pay for singing in a show choir." Sam frowned at them from a few rows back, but the entire class was soon distracted by the teacher slamming the door shut.

"Alright, it seems we have someone new to our class today. Let's all get reacquainted with each other, then. One by one, I want you to stand up and tell the class something about yourself. You," he pointed at Sam, who immediately looked taken aback. "Go first. Stand up." Sam got to his feet hesitantly, and two dozen pairs of eyes turned to focus on him. "Now, what's your name?"

"Sam Evans. I'm new this year." He moved to sit back down, but his teacher snapped his fingers abruptly and shook his head.

"Uh uh, don't think so. Tell us something else."

Sam cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing around the room until his eyes finally settled on Kurt and Mercedes. "Um…my old school had a zero-tolerance no-bullying policy." The entire class stared at him, including the teacher, and after a beat, he quickly added, "And I play guitar."

"Good. Sit down."

He took his seat quickly and scratched at his head as he felt his cheeks start to burn. Across the room, Kurt and Mercedes exchanged looks, then grinned in Sam's direction as the next kid stood up and the introductions went on.

When the class finally ended, Sam hurried out of the room as quickly as his feet would carry him, ignoring the way Kurt and Mercedes obviously tried to get his attention as he left.

* * *

><p>"Hut!"<p>

Finn turned and pressed the ball into Sam's chest as he ran by, and Sam immediately pushed out to the right, spinning quickly to avoid the hands of one of the linemen and then sprinting down the field, the flag on his hip flipping back and forth in the wind as he ran. Another player came at him from the side and reached for the flag, but Sam pushed at his chest without slowing down and sent him sprawling to the ground. A few seconds later, he'd made it into the end zone.

A whistle blew, and Sam caught his breath and then turned around, looking to the rest of the guys on the field. Nearly all of them were staring at him wide-eyed, and he scratched at his head, somewhat embarrassed. Even Coach Beiste looked surprised. "…What? Did I do okay?"

* * *

><p>"Dude, you're so gonna make the team." Puck clapped him on the back as he passed him in the locker room. Sam rubbed his neck with a towel. "You're even better than Matt was."<p>

"Thanks."

"Now all that's left is Glee Club," Finn reminded him. "You still up for that? We could use someone else that's actually _cool_, and judging by the way things are going, you're gonna be pretty popular around here."

"Uh…yeah, sure," Sam told him after some hesitation.

"Awesome." Finn grinned. "The choir room's just a couple minutes' walk from here. Tryouts for Glee Club start in like fifteen minutes, and it's only going to be the same eleven people just reestablishing our spots in the club, so you'll be the only new addition. All you have to do is show up, and we'll have a guitar there for you to use. Got any go-to songs?"

Sam shrugged his shoulders. "I guess."

"Alright; can't wait to hear you sing," Finn told him happily. "See you there." He left the locker room with Puck, and the boy named Mike shot Sam a smile and then followed them out. The door shut and some of the other boys immediately began to snicker in Sam's direction.

He shifted uncomfortably, looking around. "What?"

The boy he recognized as Dave Karofsky shook his head in disappointment, then replied, "You're joining _Glee Club_?"

"Yeah. I mean…I think so. Should I not?"

"Not if you want to have a future here, lady-boy," Karofsky's friend Azimio told him with a snort. "You join that club, and even your own teammates here are gonna have to disassociate like we did with Hudson, Chang, and Puckerman."

"Let's put it this way," Karofsky finished. "There's a reason the 'popular' kids that're in Glee Club don't sit with the rest of us and the Cheerios. They're outcasts. And you will be too, if you join. Good luck fitting in here after you've marked yourself for slushieing on your very first day. Hell, even some of your own club might pick on you once you've joined. I know Puck likes to pick on Hummel every morning, and he's slushied pretty much all the Glee losers by now. And even Finn's slushied Rachel Berry once." He smirked. "Don't worry, the girls won't pick on you, though. They'll just ignore you."

He laughed and high-fived Azimio, who corrected, "Well, except for Brittany and Santana. I don't think they ignore _anyone_, if you know what I mean."

Sam shook his head while another round of laughter started up, then pushed his way out of the locker room and stepped out into the hall, looking back and forth between the end of the hallway that led toward the choir room, and the visible front door to the school at the other end. After a moment's hesitation, and he turned and headed for the front door, his hands shoved into his pockets and his head hung low.

* * *

><p>"You're home late," his mother observed when he finally got home. She was in the kitchen peeling potatoes, practically right where he'd left her that morning.<p>

"Yep," he replied, taking the stairs two at a time. "Had football tryouts."

He entered his room and shut the door behind himself without giving his mother a chance to reply, then grabbed his guitar and sat down on his bedroom floor, strumming it quietly with his back and the back of his head pressed against the wall. He stared up at the poster above his bed again. It was an album cover from the early 70s, and written across the middle of it were the words "Music Is My Life".

He sighed to himself and set his guitar off to the side after a moment, running both hands through his hair and staring straight ahead at where his sheet music lay. His mind raced, going back and forth on joining the club, but a moment later he was interrupted by a knock at his door. "What?" he called out.

The door swung open and his mom peered into the room, smiling when she spotted him on the floor. "You just ran right up here without telling me about your first day. Come downstairs and share, honey. Make any new friends?"

"Yeah," he answered shortly.

"How did football tryouts go?"

"Good."

They were both silent for a moment, and eventually his mother sighed, moving to shut the door. "Alright, well…dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

"You got it." He went back to his guitar without another word, and heard footsteps heading back downstairs a few seconds later. A light tap on his window caught his attention and he set his guitar aside, turning around and peering out of it just in time for another pebble to hit it smack-dab in the center pane. For the first time that afternoon, Sam smiled.


	2. Sam Part 2 of 3

"Mom, I'm going out."

"What about dinner?"

"I'll grab something to eat while I'm out," Sam replied, already reaching for the front door.

His mother smiled knowingly and told him, "Say hi to Blaine for me."

"Alright, I will."

He stepped outside and grinned again, jogging over to his best friend, who was standing on the driveway now, waiting for him. They bumped fists and Sam questioned, "Dude, you should've told me you were stopping by. Why the surprise?"

"Well, I figured a surprise visit would cheer you up more than an expected one, and after your first day, I'm guessing you need a _lot _of cheering up."

"It's a little bit different from Dalton there," Sam told him with a sigh. "I'm already getting threatened just for trying to join a club."

"What club?"

"Glee."

"Like the Warblers?" Blaine questioned, immediately interested. "Dude, I spent _weeks _trying to get you to join _our _Glee Club. What gives?"

"Well, people don't know me there. I don't know; it's different. But it doesn't matter, anyway. They're all at each other's throats even within their own club, so I don't know why I'd bother joining if I won't even make friends out of my fellow outcasts. There's no point."

"It's probably not that bad," Blaine advised as they made their way to his car. "You should go for it." He unlocked the car while Sam shrugged a response, and Blaine continued, "Let's go get coffee or something. You look half-dead already."

* * *

><p>Sam winced as the coffee burned his lips, but he forced some the liquid down before setting the cup on the table in front of him and focusing on Blaine across from him. "So…" Blaine hesitated for a moment, then questioned, "How's your mom doing?"<p>

"She's fine," Sam answered vaguely, staring down at his drink.

"Have you talked to your dad since, uh…since the divorce?"

"Not really. Don't have much to say to him."

"Why not?"

"Well, he kind of initiated the divorce in the first place, and his child support isn't enough for my mom to be able to afford to send me to Dalton anymore. What am I supposed to talk to him about, now? 'Oh, hi Dad; thanks for making me leave all my friends?' No thanks."

"I'm sure that wasn't his intention."

"Yeah, well…you and your logic." He rolled his eyes and Blaine laughed lightly. A bell rang at the door and Blaine's eyes slid from Sam to the door behind him. A smile spread across his lips. "Well, _hello _there."

Sam turned in his seat and caught sight of who had just entered: Kurt Hummel and his friend Mercedes. "Shit," he muttered, turning back around and quickly ducking his head.

"What, you know them? Can you set me up with the guy? Is he gay? He looks gay," Blaine questioned with a grin. He watched as Mercedes caught sight of Sam and then nudged Kurt accordingly. A moment later, they were heading over to Sam and Blaine's table before they'd even ordered.

"Hi…um, sorry to interrupt, but you're Sam Evans, right? The kid from class today?" Kurt questioned, smiling down at Sam as Sam grudgingly raised his head.

"Uh, yeah. Hello."

"I'm Kurt, and this is my friend Mercedes. You were hilarious. The look on the teacher's face when you mentioned the no-bullying policy? Amazing." He held out his hand and Sam shook it hesitantly, his lips curling upwards in amusement when it was Blaine's turn and he shook Kurt's hand a little too enthusiastically. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for amusing us on our normally-awful first day back. We'll just get our coffee and-"

"You two are welcome to sit here with us," Blaine cut in quickly, ignoring the look Sam shot him. "We have two empty spots."

"Oh, I don't think-" Mercedes started, but Kurt cut her off hastily, clapping his hands together.

"Fabulous! We'll be right back." They left for the counter and Blaine checked Kurt out as he left, then turned to face Sam.

"Isn't he adorable? He totally pings, too."

"Dude," Sam replied, aggravated, "I'm not gay."

Blaine's smile dropped. "Sorry. I forget sometimes." He glanced towards Kurt again and questioned, "Do you think he could be interested, though?"

"I don't know. Ask him yourself. Ask him out on a date."

"Oh, no, I couldn't. We've only just met."

"Then don't whine about how you missed your chance one week from now."

Kurt and Mercedes returned a moment later, setting their coffees down and then taking spots across from each other at the square table. "Nice to meet you," Sam muttered to Mercedes quickly, remembering they hadn't officially introduced themselves to each other yet. She shot him a smile and took a sip of her drink. Meanwhile, Kurt was examining the slowly-reddening face of an extremely self-conscious Blaine with his eyebrows furrowed and a hand on his chin.

"You know, you look familiar. Have I seen you before?"

"Before today? Not that I know of."

"Are you sure?"

"I would've remembered," Blaine replied, chugging some of his coffee a moment later to hide his embarrassment.

Kurt smiled slightly, before perking up and questioning, "Wait. Are you from the Warblers? The show choir group?"

"Yeah. How did you know that?"

"I saw you guys in competition a couple months back. All-Boys Regionals. Those harmonies? You guys definitely should've won."

"Yeah, the Council says we got robbed. But hey, it's a new year. I'll definitely come check out you guys when you perform," Blaine told them, ignoring the subtle way Sam was telling him not to continue from there. "And especially if my best friend Sam here joins."

"Oh, you were thinking about joining Glee Club?" Kurt questioned instantly, turning towards him. Sam quickly dropped the hand he'd been using to gesture to Blaine with.

"Uh…I don't know. Maybe?"

"We could use another member," Mercedes cut in there, looking over at him hopefully.

"Actually, we _need _another member," Kurt corrected with a wince. "And nobody else at school will join; Mr. Schue has already tried. If we don't get one more member, we can't compete in any competitions. And then our funding will be taken and we'll have to disband."

"I don't know. Isn't there some backlash for joining?"

Mercedes and Kurt exchanged uncomfortable looks. "Oh…you saw that."

"Yeah, I mean…Glee Club sounds fun and all, but I have to have my priorities in order, you know? I'm new this year so the last thing I need to do is anything that's gonna make it harder to fit in. And no offense, but…you guys don't exactly seem like a very tight-knit group, anyway."

"Oh, we are," Kurt laughed out with a wave of his hand. "It's all about keeping up appearances. We all get along when we're alone in the choir room together. We even go out and have fun together. If you want proof, come by the club Friday night."

"Not the _club _as in the Glee Club," Mercedes corrected, amused. "The club as in the only night club in Lima. We can give you directions if you don't know where it is."

"No, that's okay. I've been there," Sam replied.

"Great," Kurt said with a smile. "Don't be afraid to bring your friend either." He shot a grin Blaine's way as he and Mercedes both stood up and said their goodbyes, and Blaine and Sam exchanged surprised looks.

"I think the kids in your school's show choir just asked us to come get drunk with them this weekend," Blaine stated.

"And I think you're going to make me say yes," Sam retorted knowingly, already spotting the smirk forming on Blaine's lips.

* * *

><p>"Hey, what gives?"<p>

Sam turned away from his locker and found himself cornered by both Puck and Finn, the former of which looking a little too hostile for his liking. "Huh?"

"Glee Club," Finn elaborated for Puck, sounding more disappointed than anything. "You didn't show."

"Um…yeah. That. See, I kind of had this emergency…"

"Look, if you don't want to join, just spit it out," Puck told him, crossing his arms. "We're big boys; I think we can handle it."

"I'm…still considering," Sam told them honestly. "Kurt invited me to hang out with you guys Friday night; make a few friends, you know? I might join if I-"

"Have fun?" Puck finished for him. "Dude, if you want a good time I can just send Brittany and Santana over to your house for a night. If that's all it takes to get another kid in Glee I'm sure they'd be willing to-"

"That's not really my thing," Sam cut in quickly, shaking his head.

Puck eyed him curiously. "Hey, what're you doing hanging out with Kurt Hummel, anyway?" He paused suspiciously. "Are you gay?"

"No," Sam sighed out. "I ran into Kurt and his friend Mercedes at a coffee shop yesterday, and that's not what I meant. I just don't do one-night-stands."

Puck snorted, looking over at Finn, who hastily took over the conversation instead. "That's okay; neither do I. Kurt's right; just come hang out with us Friday night. You can meet the rest of New Directions – that's the name of the Glee Club – and then decide from there if you feel welcome enough to join. It'll be fun."

"And your rep will be just as intact as ours is if you do, because you're a shoe-in for running back on the team. So relax; you got nothing to worry about," Puck added. "We'll see you later, alright?"

"Right," Sam agreed hesitantly, and they left without another word.

* * *

><p>Some Ke$ha song Sam didn't recognize was blaring through the speakers when he entered the club with Blaine at his side. "Seriously; take those off," he told Blaine for what had to be at least the fifth time since his friend had picked him up. "You look like a douche."<p>

Blaine fingered his pink sunglasses with a grin. "No way, man. Do you see Kurt anywhere?"

Sam scanned the mob of dancers and spotted Mike and his girlfriend Tina dancing together, the kid in the wheelchair doing the robot by himself, and Brittany and Santana both grinding on either side of Puck, but there was no sign of Kurt. "Nope. Looks like you'll have to find him on your own."

"The things I do for love," Blaine sighed out, promptly pushing his way into the crowd. Sam jumped when Finn placed a hand on his shoulder a second later, then he relaxed when he realized who it was.

"Hey, you made it!"

"Yeah, look," Sam started, shouting over the music, "Like I said, dancing's not really my thing."

"Don't worry about it," Finn replied, steering him towards the bar. "You can keep Quinn company. She doesn't really like the whole clubbing thing and she's always too embarrassed to be seen dancing anywhere near me so she usually just hangs out at the bar all night."

"Alright," he agreed hesitantly, his minimal past experiences reminding him that Quinn wasn't exactly the friendliest girl on the planet.

Finn tapped his girlfriend on the shoulder as he reached her. "Hey, I brought someone for you to talk to," he said quite abrasively. Sam raised both eyebrows at him as Quinn turned her head.

She eyed Sam for a second before questioning, "What's he doing here?"

Apparently Finn and Puck hadn't filled her in. "He's hanging out with us tonight. We're gonna show him a good time so he'll join the club." Quinn shot him an "are you serious?" look and he laughed, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. "No pressure, babe." He left for the dance floor and Sam hesitated for a moment, then sat down next to Quinn awkwardly.

"So…you don't dance?" he finally asked, trying to make conversation.

Quinn forced a laugh. "Not with Finn as a boyfriend."

"Why not?" She tilted her head in the direction of the dance floor in response, and Sam followed her eyes to where Brittany had apparently broken off from Puck and Santana, hijacked Finn, and was now dancing around him seductively while he attempted to keep up. Watching Finn, it was self-explanatory, especially in contrast to Brittany's fluid movements. "…Oh."

"He's so bad I'm actually not even jealous," Quinn murmured into her drink, chuckling slightly.

"How'd you get that?" Sam questioned, noting the alcoholic beverage in front of Quinn on the bar for the first time.

"Fake ID. We all have them, courteous of Artie." Sam looked at her blankly. "Wheelchair boy."

"Ah."

"I'm sure he'd make you one if you asked. Only if you were in Glee, though."

He laughed. "One more perk to look forward to, huh?"

"Hey, if it sweetens the deal," she replied with a shrug and a smile. Sam watched her for a moment, smiling himself.

"No offense, but…you guys really are desperate, aren't you?"

"Well, like we said before…Cheerios practice is easier with a distracted coach."

"C'mon, that's just an excuse," he retorted knowingly, nudging Quinn lightly. "Admit it; you have fun."

Quinn shot him a haughty look. "If it's clearly so much fun, then, why aren't you joining?"

Sam pondered that for a moment, holding back a grin as their eyes met. "Maybe I will."

"You should."

"Okay." Quinn bit her lip and Sam stared at her for a moment. "…Do you wanna dance?"

She chuckled lightly and turned away from him, shaking her head as she went back to her drink. "No."

The mood went awkward again and he rubbed at the back of his head for a moment, searching for an out. "Right. Um…I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Be right back." He slipped off his seat without waiting for a response and pushed his way through the dancers, searching for the men's room. It took him a few minutes, but he finally located it and pushed the door open, stepping inside with a sigh. It was nice to take a break from the loud music and the wild crowd just outside the door.

He straightened up and focused on the room in front of him, and his eyes immediately widened. "Whoa."

Finn and Rachel broke apart at the sound of his voice, both of them meeting his eyes with equally shocked expressions on their faces. Rachel recovered first, gasping and then turning and slapping Finn across the face, before setting her jaw and storming out of the bathroom in a clearly over-acted display of anger.

"Ow!" Finn exclaimed, his hand flying to his cheek as she left. "What the hell, Rachel?"

"Dude," Sam said, shaking his head in disappointment. Finn seemed to regain his senses then, and Sam could practically see the gears in his brain working overdrive.

"Sam, it's not what it looks like."

"You're dating Quinn."

"Yeah. Totally. Which is why…this never happened, alright?" Finn shot him a pleading look and Sam forced a dry laugh, shaking his head in disbelief.

"You're cheating on her."

"Look, I'm…I'm working on it, okay? Just please don't tell Quinn. Bro code, dude. I'm breaking up with her soon. I just need to figure out how to do it."

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes and left the bathroom, immediately catching Rachel's eye. She was dancing with Mercedes now, but he watched her until she bit her lip and looked away. With another roll of his eyes, he started to make his way back to Quinn, ready to leave, but Brittany intercepted him halfway through, grinning at him and grabbing his hand to tug him towards the dance floor.

"C'mon, dancing's fun," she told him when he looked less than enthused.

"I'm really not in the mood."

"Who comes to a club and then isn't in the mood to dance?" she pointed out with a giggle, turning slightly to shoot a wink someone's way as they finally settled in the middle of the crowd. Sam turned his head in the appropriate direction just in time to see Santana return the gesture from her spot next to an oblivious Puck. "Normally, we go home with Puck on nights like this," Brittany explained. Sam shifted uncomfortably. "But I think Santana's been getting bored of him lately. And making out and stuff with you will bring me one step closer to completing my perfect record." Sam blinked at her, a little stunned. "You don't have to dance with me," Brittany continued bluntly, "but if you wanna get up on this, just let me know by the end of the night and we can totally arrange something with Santana too."

Sam cleared his throat hastily, his face red by now. "Right. Thanks, Brittany." He pushed past her quickly and headed for the bar again, feeling a sort of obligation to say goodbye to Quinn before he left now that they'd spent the majority of their time at the club that night together. "Hey," he called out when he reached her, forcing down the urge to say something about what he'd seen in the bathroom.

"Hey," Quinn said, a little friendlier this time around. Sam had a feeling that had a lot to do with the drink in front of her.

"So…I think I'm gonna head home."

Quinn's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"Uh…stomach problems. I think I ate something funky for dinner before I came here," he lied hastily. "See you at school?"

He started to move away, but Quinn reached for his arm quickly, correcting, "See you at Glee Club?"

He waited a beat, then sighed, smiling. "Yeah. Okay."

"Good. Now Finn can stop stressing out and bugging me about it all day," she replied with a small smile of her own.

Sam's lips dropped at the mention of Finn, but he forced the smile back to his face. "See you then." She let him go and he immediately scanned the crowd for Blaine, then pushed his way over to him, eyeing his best friend with a raised eyebrow.

Blaine's pink sunglasses were still firmly attached to his face and he was dancing with Kurt. Both of them were definitely drunk, and Sam grabbed hold of Blaine's shoulder roughly and leaned into his ear. "Come on; we're going!"

"What?" Blaine asked incredulously, turning to look at him while Kurt watched them and continued to dance. "But dude, I was just-"

"Say your goodbyes and let's go," Sam interrupted, already moving to tug him towards the door.

"Damn it, Sam, okay…hey, call me!" he managed to shout over the noise, waving to Kurt hastily as Sam practically dragged him through the crowd.

"You gave him your number?" he asked, a little surprised at Blaine's ability to think ahead while intoxicated.

"Shit, no." Blaine struggled to free himself, complaining, "Wait, I have to-"

"Relax; I'm sure you'll see him again. You live in the same small town and I'm joining Glee with him so-"

"Oh, are you really?" Blaine asked excitedly. "Dude, you have to tell me every time you guys perform outside of school; I can use you as an excuse to come see Kurt."

"You're such a great friend," Sam told him dryly as they came to a stop outside Blaine's car. "Give me your keys."

"I can drive!"

"You're drunk." He snatched the keys out of Blaine's hand and then forced him into the passengers' seat. "How'd you get alcohol, anyway?"

"Kurt."

"Of course." Sam rolled his eyes as he sat down in the drivers' seat and started the car. "I'm never going to hear the end of it about this kid, am I?" When he received no response, he turned his head to see Blaine passed out on the seat next to him. "Or…maybe I will," he muttered to himself, before shifting the car into reverse and moving to pull out of the parking lot.

* * *

><p>With Blaine curled up under the covers and passed out beside him, Sam lay flat on his back and looked straight ahead, trying to will himself to sleep. Blaine shifted beside him and murmured something intelligible, and Sam glanced at him for a moment, before sighing and rolling over onto his side with his back to Blaine. He faced the bedside table a foot away just as the cell phone sitting on it lit up and vibrated. Furrowing his eyebrows, Sam glanced at the clock beside the phone. It was nearly midnight.<p>

Curious, he reached for his phone and squinted at the brightening screen, slowly making out the word "Dad" flashing just above the words "incoming call". He sighed, shaking his head, then set the phone back down on the nightstand.

"Asshole," he muttered to himself, before rolling over again and squeezing his eyes shut.

* * *

><p>"Well, good morning hon-… <em>oh<em>." Sam's mother's expression changed when she noticed an extremely under-the-weather Blaine emerging down the stairs behind Sam, dark circles under his eyes and hair sticking up in all directions. "Blaine…did you spend the night?"

Blaine rubbed at his eyes and blinked quickly as he and Sam sat down at the table and Ms. Evans brought them the eggs she had just finished frying. "Uh…yeah. Late night study session. Mom doesn't like for me to drive in the dark after what happened with my first car."

"You two should've let me know. I could've made Blaine a bed on the pull-out couch so you two wouldn't have to share."

"I'm not gay, Mom," Sam said dully into his eggs. "It's not like we have to be separated or we'll jump each other."

"Not what I meant, Samuel," she retorted, rolling her eyes.

"You're not my type, anyway," Blaine told him with a grin. He perked up suddenly. "That reminds me, Kurt-"

"Seriously, dude, not this early in the morning," Sam interrupted. "I can't handle any more Kurt talk."

"Ooh, who's Kurt?" Ms. Evans cut in from the kitchen, back to frying more eggs now.

"Blaine's only chance at a boyfriend."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you two are the only two gay guys in Lima. Good news for you, though," Sam replied, "that means you're bound to date because you'll both be too desperate to go find anyone else."

Blaine scoffed. "Mock all you want, but I actually like him."

"No, you like dancing with him when you're dru-" Sam coughed quickly, cutting himself off when he remembered his mom. Blaine shot him a look and changed the subject, beginning to get to his feet.

"Anyway, I gotta run. Warblers practice today."

"Really, your Glee Club again?"

"Yes, and I expect to see you start blowing me off to practice with _yours _soon enough, right?" Sam rolled his eyes and Blaine pressed, "Right? You're joining?"

He sighed, then grudgingly confirmed, "Yeah."

"Awesome." Blaine clapped him on the back and backed towards the front door. "Trust me, you won't regret it. Glee Club's a blast. See you later, Ms. E; thanks for breakfast."

"Bye, Blaine," Sam's mother replied with a knowing smile, turning to Sam as Blaine left. "What's this I hear about a Glee Club?"

"Just some dumb thing I'm joining at school," Sam muttered, standing up and reaching for his plate, then grabbing Blaine's and carrying both to the kitchen sink to wash them. "It's not a big deal."

"Your father was in a club like that in high school, I think," his mother mused, staring into space thoughtfully.

"Whatever." The dishes cleaned, Sam grabbed the jacket hanging on a nearby closet door and began to pull it on.

"Have you talked to him lately?" his mother's voice followed him as he headed for the door.

"Nope. I'm going out." It slammed shut behind him a moment later.

* * *

><p>Stevie was outside riding a bike up and down the street and as Sam grabbed his own bicycle, his younger sibling pedaled back onto the driveway and braked beside him. "Is Blaine gonna visit again soon? He saw me riding and said he would bring his bike next time too."<p>

"I'm not sure," Sam replied, sitting down on the seat of his bike. "Maybe he'll come by after school one day."

"Are you going somewhere?" Stevie pedaled after him. "Can we go to the park?"

"Not really in the mood right now, Stevie. Maybe some other time."

"Well, can I come with you? I can keep up, I promise."

Sam sighed to himself, then stood up on his bike and pedaled harder, leaving his brother behind with practiced ease. His house faded into the distance behind him as he pushed his feet down on the pedals with all the strength he had, then coasted when he was sure he'd put enough space between himself and his brother.

But not a few seconds had passed before the sound of huffing and puffing reached his ears, and when he glanced over his shoulder, there was Stevie, bent over the handle bars with his eyebrows furrowed in concentration and his legs pumping furiously. Sam slowed to his a stop and let him catch up, resigned to the fact that his brother clearly wasn't going to give up. "…Fine. Let's go to the park."

* * *

><p>Stevie sat on the swing beside him, getting dangerously high while his legs swung back and forth, but Sam's swing was barely in motion, and his feet were poking at the dirt beneath him. The rest of the park was deserted and even the nearby houses and streets felt dead. "Don't go too high," he warned his brother suddenly, trying not to give away his following lie by smiling. "You'll flip over the top and fall off."<p>

Stevie gasped and immediately scuffed his feet along the ground at that, slowing down to a completely stop within seconds. "Has that ever happened to you?"

"Nah."

"Then how do you know?"

It was the same thing his Dad used to tell him when he was younger, and Sam frowned at the reminder. "Sometimes people just know things."

"Like how Mom knows you're sad?"

Caught off guard, Sam tensed up. "Who says I'm sad? I'm fine, Stevie."

"Then why don't you ever come out of your room? You used to play dinosaurs and Legos with me and now I only see you before school."

"I've just got a lot going on right now."

"Like what?" He met his brother's eyes to see them staring back at him innocently. "The only thing that's different between before and now is what school you have to go to. And Dad. But you don't see him anyway. So that doesn't count."

"I'm just busy." He stood up abruptly. "Anyway, I don't owe you an explanation. You're just a kid."

Stevie stood up and followed him across the park, hot on his heels. "Mom says I'm smart for my age. I can read at a seventh grade reading level in school."

"Good. That's probably better than I can."

"Why don't you hang out with Dad anymore?"

Sam stopped in his tracks, turning. "Why do you care?"

"Because he's our Dad. Duh."

"He sure isn't acting like one."

"Sure he is." Stevie followed him as he resumed his walk. "He takes me here like he used to and he buys me Pokémon cards when I want them and gives me candy when I'm good. He just does it without Mom around 'cause they don't love each other no more. But he still loves me and sis and you."

"If he really loved us he'd still live with us, Stevie. If you love someone you don't just walk out on them and leave them to deal with the consequences."

"That's silly. All you had to do was switch schools, and you still get to see Blaine. Mom cries all the time in her room and she doesn't complain. I hear it 'cause she's across the hall from me but you don't because you never come downstairs except to eat and leave." Sam looked over at him, surprised, and he continued, "Is that why you're always in your room, too? So nobody can hear?"

"Of course not," he retorted harshly, softening his tone when his brother leaned away from him nervously. "Of course not," he repeated more quietly. "Sometimes I just feel like being alone."

"You mean all the time." His brother stood up and kicked at a rock, his eyes lowered to the ground. "…I want to go home. You should be nice to Dad again. If I'm eight and I can do it and Mom's the one he left anyway and she can do it than you can do it too." He kicked at another rock and then turned to walk away, and Sam stared after him with his lips turned down in a frown and his eyebrows furrowed.


	3. Sam Part 3 of 3

The results of the football tryouts were posted on the locker room door Monday morning, and Sam approached the list with some apprehension, confident he'd made the team but unsure of how it'd work in accordance with Glee club. He hated being one of those guys obsessed with reputation, but he couldn't help but not want a slushie in his face every day just for singing occasionally. Several other guys crowded around the list beside him and he stared up at it.

"There you are, Sammy," Puck uttered from just behind him, pointing up at a spot on the list. "First string running back."

"And Quinn told me what you said on Friday," Finn's voice quickly followed. "Project Get Sam in Glee Club is a go." The two boys high-fived, and Sam forced his way through the crowd and proceeded down the hall without looking back. Finn and Puck caught up to him hastily. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Class," Sam retorted with a hint of sarcasm.

"But aren't you happy? You're totally gonna be popular now."

He stopped, spinning around quickly. Finn and Puck nearly tripped over themselves trying not to run into them. "Is that what you two think you are? Really? Do you not hear what the rest of the guys on the team say about you?"

Finn and Puck exchanged intimidated looks. "Well…we can kind of guess they don't like us but-"

"Yeah, that would be an understatement."

Puck raised an eyebrow. "Dude, what's your problem? You're being a little too intense over this."

Sam glared at them for a moment, then sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I'm just really stressed out right now."

"What do you have to be stressed out about? You're on the football team, man. You should be happy," Finn pointed out brightly.

"But I shouldn't be on the team. I shouldn't even be at this school. I had to leave all my old friends to come here, and now the only one I have left is more interested in your Glee Club than _I _am, and if I want to feel like I belong somewhere I'm either going to have to ditch the only people who have been nice to me here or end up a total loser like the two of you. So yeah, it's a little stressful."

"Harsh," Puck muttered.

"Okay, I get it," Finn replied with a shrug. "In fact, I went through it, too. But you're just gonna have to trust us. Come to practice this afternoon. Don't chicken out this time." He smiled. "We'll show you what it's like."

Sam stared at them for a moment, and Finn grinned back at him innocently. Finally, he shook his head and allowed a small smile of his own to spread across his lips. "Alright. Fine."

* * *

><p>"And so, your formula here would be radius multiplied by distance over time. Let me work a problem on the board from your worksheet."<p>

Sam slouched down in his seat a few rows behind Kurt and Mercedes as their Physics teacher scanned the room thoroughly. Finally, his eyes settled on Sam. "Mr. Evans, pick a problem for me."

His heart sank and he looked down to his paper quickly, the large blocks of text blurring and moving around and pushing together in front of him. He swallowed hard, finally locating the problem that seemed the shortest. "Uh…number three."

"Alright, we'll do number three." The teacher poised his marker on the board at the front of the room. "Read it out loud for me, will you?"

Sam stared at him for a moment, then glanced to his paper again and ran a hand through his hair. "Uh, yeah. Okay." He cleared his throat and licked his lips, blinking down at the words. "C-Calculate the time it takes a car trav…traveling at a con…stant tangenital-" Several kids snickered around him and one boy let out an obnoxious laugh at the back of the room. Kurt and Mercedes glanced at Sam and his cheeks colored as the teacher gave them all a disapproving look and motioned for Sam to continue. "_Tangential _speed of three meters a sec…ond to drive once a-around a roundabout with a…with a rad…_rade_-ius of forty meters." He let out a sigh and sat back in his seat, ignoring the way another boy a few seats away from him leaned over and pretended to stutter a sentence out to his friend.

When the bell finally rang, Sam gathered his stuff and quickly left the room, once again ignoring Kurt calling after him. This time, however, Kurt refused to give up, and a moment later a hand caught Sam's arm and stopped him in his tracks, simultaneously spinning him around. While Sam caught his balance, Kurt nodded a goodbye to Mercedes, who smiled back and left them alone to talk. "What?" Sam mumbled, looking around them nervously.

Kurt crossed his arms and matter-of-factly questioned, "Do you have a problem with me?"

"No," Sam replied a little too quickly. There was an awkward pause. "No, I don't," he repeated, more firmly this time. Kurt continued to look at him suspiciously.

"…Is it because I'm gay?"

"No!" Sam waved his hands hastily, genuine this time. "I don't have a problem with gay dudes. My best friend's _Blaine_."

A visible smile tugged at the corners of Kurt's lips. "Blaine's gay? Really?"

Sam sighed, rolling his eyes and starting to turn away. "Look, I have to-"

"Wait, sorry," Kurt cut him off, grabbing him again. "I just thought I'd apologize for Friday night. I meant to keep you company but Blaine distracted me a little."

"I noticed. Whatever, it's cool. But I really should-"

"You don't want to be seen with me," Kurt pointed out suddenly, cutting Sam off again. Kurt raised an eyebrow. "If it's not because I'm gay, then is it because I'm not exactly the most popular guy in school?"

Sam avoided his eyes, and he knew he'd gotten it right. "Look, I…" Sam started to say, pausing for a moment while he stared at his feet. Finally, he took a deep breath and looked Kurt in the face again. "I'm dyslexic. Like, severely."

Kurt forced a laugh. "Yeah, it was kind of obvious back there." He shrugged. "So you aren't that great of a reader. I'm sure you're a lot better than me at football."

Sam's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, so…"

"It's not a big deal, Sam. Really."

Sam swallowed hard. "I just…I got picked on for it a lot when I was younger. Then I started going to Dalton, and it all stopped. It's not something I'm looking forward to now that I'm back in a public school where they allow that kind of stuff."

"People who are going to make fun of you for mispronouncing a few words are stupid and immature," Kurt told him, rolling his eyes. "You shouldn't let stupid people keep you from doing what you love." He smiled knowingly, then stepped away from Sam and turned to walk away. "See you at Glee this afternoon, by the way."

Sam followed Kurt with his eyes as the shorter boy left, then took a deep breath and turned away, ignoring the people watching him as he went.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Lady Lips." Sam looked up and finished wiping the sweat off his face with a towel, tossing it to the side as Karofsky approached him from the other side of the locker room. Nearby, Finn, Puck, and Mike all watched the exchange with a little apprehension. "I heard McKinley's resident faggot talking to his friends today about how <em>you <em>decided to join the Glee Club."

"Leave him alone, Karofsky," Finn called out, stepping towards them, but Sam motioned for him to stay out of it.

"You know, you're obviously a very insecure guy, Karofsky. I hope you get over that eventually."

A large hand pressed into his chest and a second later Sam found himself pinned against a locker with Karofsky in his face. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I guess the reason I can hang around with gay dudes so much, and join a club that people like _you _think is for gay dudes…is because I'm comfortable enough in my own straightness to not be worried about other people thinking I'm gay. Now, the people who pick on the Glee kids, like you…_those _are the ones you've kinda got to wonder about."

Karofsky's jaw locked and he pulled his hand back and clenched it into a fist, but Puck, Finn, and Mike were there in a second, grabbing onto his arm and pulling him off of Sam. "Whoa whoa whoa…do you want to get kicked off the team?" Finn questioned incredulously.

"Yeah, step off our boy Sam," Puck added, pushing him back for emphasis. Karofsky and Azimio exchanged looks, their fists clenched at their sides.

* * *

><p>"Shit, watch the jacket!" Sam and Mike rolled to the side quickly and curled up to avoid Puck as he came flying into the dumpster beside them, landing on a particularly moist pile of trash that they'd both been lucky enough to avoid. "Fuck," he muttered, sitting up and plucking a banana off of his head. A second later, Finn came crashing down on all three of them, and after a moment of silence with the exception of a few groans, Karofsky and Azimio leaned over the top of the dumpster and grinned down at them.<p>

"Have fun playing in the garbage where you belong, losers!"

They left, and Puck shoved Finn off of him, forcing him to roll over onto a strawberry milkshake. Finn cringed. "I think I'm gonna barf."

"I think I already have," Mike replied, staring suspiciously at a greenish substance next to his head.

"Well, Sam…this is the worst of it," Puck told him, tilting his head to look in Sam's direction. Sam pushed Finn's leg off of his shoulder and sat up, looking down at his ruined clothes. "Think you can handle this every once in a while?"

Sam looked up at them, then around at the trash can. "That depends." Finally, his eyes settled on the other three boys, and he smiled. "Can we have a garbage fight _every _time?"

Finn covered his head quickly. "Nonononono…"

Puck laughed and reached for the thrown-away slushie, turning it upside down over Finn's head while Sam shakily got to his feet and grabbed an entire bag of trash, then swung it around towards Puck and slammed it into his side, knocking him down again. Mike pulled himself out of the dumpster hastily while Puck tackled Sam's legs out from under him, and Finn's face went green as he wiped milkshake off of his head and Sam's laughter filled the air. "You guys are so gross. Mike, help me out of here."

* * *

><p>"Oh my God." Rachel pulled a face and pinched her nose as all four boys entered the choir room, looking cleaner than they had ten minutes ago, but not anywhere close to presentable. Some of Finn's hair was even still pink. The rest of the Glee club was having similar reactions, judging by the expressions on their faces and the several pinched noses in the room.<p>

"You guys…what happened?" Will asked, rushing over to them with his own nose wrinkled up unpleasantly. "Are you okay?"

"Karofsky and Azimio happened," Puck answered with a wince.

"I'll make sure Principal Figgins hears about this," Will replied, reaching for Finn's back and ushering him further into the room. Tina stood quickly and hurried over to Mike, but Quinn stayed seated and cringed when Finn came closer. "In the meantime-"

"Please make them take a shower," Santana interrupted.

"Wait," Finn announced, addressing the club hastily. "Sam's joining; he has to audition first."

Excited murmurs started up at that, and Will looked as though he'd just noticed Sam for the first time. "Is this true?"

Sam glanced around the room, then nodded his confirmation. "Yeah. Why not."

"Oh, we are _so _going to Nationals this year," Rachel commented, clenching a fist victoriously in front of her.

"Let's check and make sure he doesn't suck first, okay?" Santana snapped in Rachel's direction, leaning back and crossing her arms. Will turned to Sam.

"Do you have anything prepared? If you don't we can wait until-"

"No, it's fine. I just need a guitar." A second later, one was handed to him by a nearby band member. Sam faced the rest of the club again "…and, uh, someone who can help me out a little bit. Can any of you guys rap?"

Artie pushed his glasses up and nodded confidently, rolling up to him and then crossing his arms. "Let's do this, yo."

"Alright." Sam paused, then leaned over whispered something in Artie's ear. When he received a nod in response, he shouldered the guitar strap and began strumming.

_I wanna be a billionaire so fricking bad  
>Buy all of the things I never had<br>I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine  
>Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen<em>

_Oh every time I close my eyes_  
><em>I see my name in shining lights, yeah<em>  
><em>A different city every night oh I<em>  
><em>I swear the world better prepare<em>  
><em>For when I'm a billionaire<em>

He caught Quinn's eye and grinned at her while everyone else exchanged impressed looks, and Quinn leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand, offering him a small smile in return as Artie started his rap.

_Yeah I would have a show like Oprah  
>I would be the host of, everyday Christmas<br>Give Artie a wish list  
>I'd probably pull an Angelina and Brad Pitt<br>And adopt a bunch of babies that ain't never had it  
>Give away a few Mercedes like here lady have this<br>And last but not least grant somebody their last wish  
>It's been a couple months since I've been single so<br>You can call me Artie Claus minus the Ho Ho  
>Get it, hehe, I'd probably visit where Katrina hit<br>And darn sure do a lot more than FEMA did  
>Yeah can't forget about me stupid<br>Everywhere I go Imma have my own theme music_

_Oh every time I close my eyes  
>I see my name in shining lights, yeah<br>A different city every night oh I  
>I swear the world better prepare<br>For when I'm a billionaire  
>For when I'm a billionaire<em>

_I wanna be a billionaire so fricking bad _

Grins were on everyone's faces by the time he was done, and Will clapped him on the back while everyone else started cheering. "Welcome to Glee Club, Sam. You're in."

Sam looked around at everyone else and couldn't help but smile back while Artie held out his hand for a fist-bump. "Thanks."

* * *

><p>"It definitely wasn't as bad as I expected. They wrote a song near the end of last year that they're saving for Regionals, and I got to watch them perform it afterwards. It was actually pretty cool."<p>

"_Dude, I told you!_" Blaine exclaimed on the other end of the phone. Sam grinned as he laid down on his bed, staring up at album cover above it on the ceiling again. _"Now that you're in, you'll love it. And I'm totally taking you out to celebrate, so get your party hat on."_

"I think I'm gonna hold off on the partying. Last weekend was enough for a while," Sam replied, rolling his eyes.

_"Fine, but you've still got to drag me to anything Kurt goes to. We can go out now for coffee instead?"_

"Sure." The doorbell rang downstairs and Sam sat up, furrowing his eyebrows. "That was fast."

He made his way out of his bedroom and down the stairs while Blaine replied, _"Huh?"_

"How'd you get here already?" He questioned into the phone, reaching forward and opening the front door. On the other side was his father, and his eyes widened. "Blaine, I have to go." He shut his phone hastily and his tone immediately hardened. "What are you doing here?"

"Sam, you haven't been answering my calls."

"And you didn't answer mine when you stayed with someone else and I tried to talk you out of divorcing Mom," he retorted shortly, trying to close the door. His dad stuck his foot in it hastily, preventing him from closing it.

"I just want to talk to you, Sam."

Sam took a deep breath, staring at him for a moment, then tightened his grip on the doorknob. "Then talk. You have five minutes before Mom gets home and sees you here trying to force your way in, just so you know."

His father sighed, resting his hand on the door frame. "I never wanted this to happen, Sam. Yes, I divorced your mother, but I didn't divorce our kids. Your brother and sister visit me every weekend. I'd like a chance to see you, too."

"After you ruined our family? After you lost me most of my friends? Yeah, right."

"Well, I'm that's why I'm here: to fix some of that. Living alone…it's caused me to put a lot of focus into my job, and I got a promotion, which means I'll be earning more than I used to." He looked at his son pointedly. "Enough to pay for you to go back to Dalton."

Sam was stunned. "…What? Are you serious?"

"If you want, I'll tell your mother to re-enroll you. All you have to do in exchange is spend some more time with me." He leaned forward, offering Sam a smile. "So…what do you say? Not too attached to your new school yet, are you?"

Sam let out a heavy breath, then turned away for a moment, swallowing hard. "Fuck," he whispered hastily, squeezing his eyes shut, before turning back to his dad and furrowing his eyebrows in thought. He thought of Finn and Puck and all of his other new friends, of his new spot on the football team, of Kurt and his calm dismissal of Sam's biggest insecurity, and of Quinn and New Directions and the way he'd stood up to Karofsky and Azimio. "I think…" He sighed, scratching at his head, then straightened up abruptly. "I think I want to stay at McKinley."

His dad's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean…it's okay there. I think I like it." He offered a small smile. "Some of the people seem nice."

"Well…" There was a moment of silence, and then his father pushed off of the frame disappointedly and took a step away. "I guess I'll go, then. Tell your brother and sister I said hi."

"Yeah," Sam replied, watching him go. "Yeah, I will. Um…thanks for the offer anyway."

"Okay." He stopped just off of the porch, hesitating, then added, "I just want you to be happy, Sam. That's all I ever wanted: was to make you kids happy and to do what was best for you. It doesn't mean I love you any less."

Sam swallowed hard and looked to his feet, and his father sighed and turned away. He was almost to his car when Sam lifted his head and opened the front door a little wider, offering a hasty, "I think I'm free next weekend!"

Mr. Evans paused with his hand on the door handle, looking up, and Sam bit his lip, looking a little embarrassed. He smiled in response, nodded once, and then got into the car and started it up.

As his car pulled out of the driveway, another familiar car pulled in, but it wasn't Sam's mother's.

Blaine got out and twirled his keys around his finger as he walked to Sam, looking over his shoulder as Sam's father drove away. "Who was that?"

"My dad."

"_Oh_." Blaine turned to look at him. "Things better now?"

Sam thought about that for a moment, then nodded. "Maybe. I think so. A little bit better, anyway."

"Cool." Blaine caught his keys with a soft jingle, then pulled the pink sunglasses from his jacket pocket and slipped them on. "Coffee, now?"

"Only…" Sam moved closer to him, annoyed, "if you take off those _fucking_-" He lunged for the glasses and Blaine ducked out of the way, laughing at him teasingly and then taking off towards his car.

"Oh, come on! Take them off; they look awful!" Sam called after him.

"Fashion is subjective, asshole!" Blaine shouted back.

Sam rolled his eyes and leaned over to pull the front door shut, then started off at a run towards the car, a smile on his face and a new spring in his step.

* * *

><p><strong>And that's the end of Sam's part :)<strong>

**I'll post the beginning of the next character's part soon, but in the meantime if you want to know who exactly that next character will be, the link to episode two will be posted on my profile. Just click it to go to the video and in usual Skins style, the character shown at the very end of the video just before the cut to the "Glee" logo will be the character that the next few chapters will be centered on.**

**Of course, alternatively you can just wait for the next chapter if you want to be surprised or don't care either way. **


	4. Mike Part 1 of 3

**A/N: On to episode two, which is... Mike!**

* * *

><p>A loud knock came from the other side of Mike's bedroom door, followed by a husky voice. "Michael, are you up? Breakfast is in ten minutes!"<p>

Mike's eyes shot open and he surveyed his bedroom quickly: windows open, sunlight streaming in through the window, illuminating the walls covered in posters of famous dancers, topped off with a giant mirror on one wall that he'd had to fight to have allowed in his room. He sat up quickly and called back, "One minute, Father!"

He heard his father give a grunt of agreement on the other side of the door, and immediately got out of bed and went about getting ready. He plucked a shirt from his closet, followed by a pair of jeans, then pulled them both on and moved to the bathroom, wetting his hair and then styling it with his hands. He followed that up with brushing his teeth and washing his face, then made his way down the hallway, entering the kitchen to see both of his parents already there and ready to eat.

"Did you do all your homework this weekend?" his father questioned shortly, cutting into the pancakes his wife had prepared.

"Yes, sir."

"And your chores?"

"All finished yesterday, sir."

"Good."

"Is Tina coming over for dinner tonight, honey?" Mrs. Chang cut in, her tone much kinder than that of her husband. "Because I've prepared the ingredients to cook for four people, but I can always cook for three if she's busy."

"_I'm _busy, Mother," Mike reminded her. "I have Asian Club this afternoon."

"But isn't Tina in Asian Club, too? She could come home with you after."

"Yeah, but…" He struggled for an excuse before replying with, "She's got plans with her own family tonight. She can't spend _all _of her time over here."

"Of course," his father agreed, turning to Mrs. Chang. "She can spend as much time as she wants with us when the two of them are married." Mike shifted uncomfortably, but it went unnoticed. "For now, let her spend time with her own relatives."

"Yes, I know we shouldn't pull her away from her own family. It's just that I adore Tina. She's pretty, well-mannered…"

"The only Asian girl in this town," Mike added under his breath with a roll of his eyes. Luckily, neither of his parents heard him, and he spoke louder to say, "Well, thank you for the breakfast, Mother. I better leave before I'm late for school."

"Have fun in Asian Club!" she called after him as he left.

* * *

><p>"Hey there." Tina grinned as she got into Mike's car, leaning over and pecking him on the lips in greeting. "How were Mr. and Mrs. Chang this morning?" she teased.<p>

"Horrible," he replied with a frown. "Remember, if they call you after school today-"

"I'm with you in Asian Club," she finished for him, suppressing a chuckle. "Even though our school doesn't even have an Asian Club."

"Right, well…luckily that's _one _part of my life they don't constantly check up on. 'Mike, did you do your homework?' 'Mike, your grades are slipping.' 'Mike, you're gonna take over the family business when you grow up.' 'Mike, where's Tina?' They only like you because you're Asian, you know. They're obsessed with Asians."

"I think that's called being traditional, Mike," Tina replied, resting a hand on his arm sympathetically. "Just be glad I _am _Asian, or you wouldn't even be allowed to date me."

"Yeah," Mike agreed, although he looked uncomfortable the second Tina turned away, and her smile faded as she glanced towards him out of the corner of her eye. Their conversation ended, and he pressed his foot to the gas and drove them both off to school.

* * *

><p>"I'm Mr. Carson, I'll be subbing for Mrs. Henderson today. I apologize in advance for pronouncing your names wrong; just correct me if I do. Artie Abrams?"<p>

"Here!"

"Doesn't it bother you that they sit together?" Finn whispered in Mike's ear, nudging him and tilting his head in the direction of Artie, who was seated next to Tina. Currently, he was messing with the test tubes on their shared table, and Tina was laughing at something he was saying.

"No, should it? They're lab partners. We drew names at the beginning of the year and that's how it turned out. Tina got the smartest guy in class and I got…well, you."

"Yeah, but they used to date."

"So? And now they don't."

"But it doesn't bother you? If Quinn were all up in some ex-boyfriend's business, laughing and joking around with him, it'd mess with my head at least a _little _bit."

"Would it?" Mike countered, raising a knowing eyebrow at him.

"Fuck you, I'm ending it soon."

"Maybe if you were a little more discreet, half the club wouldn't know you're cheating on her with Rachel."

"That's-"

"Michael Chang?"

"It's Mike."

"Oop, sorry. Okay, Mike's here…Tina Cohen-Chang?"

Nobody replied and Mike and Finn both turned around to look at Tina and Artie. This time, Artie's glasses were on Tina's face and she was lifting a hand to her face to test her eyesight. Artie looked like he was about to collapse from laughter beside her.

"Tina Cohen-Chang?"

"Oh, sorry! Here!"

Finn shot Mike a look, and he shrugged in response. "They're friends."

"She's probably cheating on you, you know."

"Just because you're unfaithful doesn't mean everyone is."

"Yes, but Tina isn't everyone."

"And she's also not cheating on me."

Finn sighed, rolling his eyes and facing forward. "Whatever. If you wanna be delusional, that's fine with me."

"I'm not being delusional!" Mike hissed.

"Santana Lopez!"

"Whatever," came the girl's bored response.

"Hey, if Tina totally dumps you for Artie, _there's _a girl you could get with," Finn told him suddenly, looking over at Santana, who was, as usual, absorbed with her nail file. Beside her, Brittany was playing with a paper ball, knocking it back and forth across the table with two pencils.

"Would you shut up? In case you haven't noticed, she's a little too…_abrasive_ for me." Mike glanced at Santana disapprovingly, then did a double-take. "Wait, since when were the two of them in this class, anyway?"

"Since they heard there was a sub today and didn't feel like skipping," Finn replied. "They're lab partners, too. I heard Santana bullied Mr. Carson into putting them together."

"I thought you said they skipped every day."

"Yeah. I think she also bullied him into letting them do that, too."

"Brittany Pierce?"

Brittany looked up, caught Mike and Finn looking at her, and shot them a wink before leaning over and whispering something in Santana's ear. Whatever it was earned her an eye-roll in response.

"…Brittany Pierce?"

"Say here, Britt," Mike watched Santana mutter.

"Here!"

"Hey," Finn continued beside him. "Brittany's hot."

Mike looked her up and down for a moment, then turned around in his seat hastily. "Not my type."

Finn let out a heavy sigh. "Whatever. If you insist. But don't complain when you don't have a backup girl after Tina dumps your ass for her nerdy ex-boyfriend."

"You're such a jerk," Mike muttered in response, risking another quick glance at Brittany. She caught him and winked again, and he turned back around in his seat, his cheeks going pink. "I'm perfectly happy with Tina, but if she breaks up with me, she breaks up with me."

"That's the kind of attitude that's going to get you dumped," Finn warned.

* * *

><p>"Aren't you guys glad we finally got our twelfth member? Perk up a little bit! With my voice and your background dancing skills, we're bound to make it to Nationals this year!"<p>

Kurt blinked at Rachel from across the lunch table. "One: Rachel, it's Monday. Nobody but you will ever be perky on Mondays. Two: Your last sentence was offensive. And three: Yes, Sam is great, but unlike you, the rest of our lives do not revolve around Glee Club. If you're gonna sit here, we had one rule, and that was not to be annoying. You're breaking it right now."

"Sorry," Rachel muttered hastily, focusing on her food without another word.

"Go get me a second helping of tots, and all will be forgiven," Mercedes advised. Rachel was up in a second, power-walking towards the unsuspecting lunch ladies. "_Damn_, can't we trade that girl for Sam? She can go bug the other half of the Glee Club and maybe we'll finally get some peace and quiet."

"I bet it's nice over there," Artie sighed out, looking across the lunchroom longingly, at the table where Puck, Santana, Brittany, Quinn, Finn, and Sam were seated. "I wish I was popular."

"Mike could tell us what it's like, couldn't you honey?" Tina reminded them, lacing her fingers through his. Mike shrugged half-heartedly while his four companions studied him raptly.

"Yeah, I mean…it's alright. No different than sitting here, really. Except here there's probably less…douchebaggery and misogyny."

"Nah, I think Artie's got that last one covered just fine," Kurt pointed out with a laugh.

"Hey! I'm perfectly nice to women," Artie defended.

"Yeah, I mean, it's not like Tina broke up with you because of the way you treat women or anything," Mercedes pointed out sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"Mike's a gentleman," Tina confirmed, looking over at him with a grin. Mike forced a smile back and squeezed her hand.

"Whatever," Artie replied, sounding genuinely hurt, but the conversation quickly ended with the return of Rachel, who placed an entire tray of tater tots on the table next to Mercedes.

"Rachel, I'm in love with you."

"Why thank you, Mercedes, although I must remind you that even though my two _dads_ are gay, I myself am entirely-"

"Hey, let's talk about something else," Kurt interrupted a little too cheerfully, fake smile plastered to his face. "Speaking of gay, Blaine and I-"

"Oh _hell _to the no, I do _not _want to waste my lunch hour talking about that fool with the pink sunglasses," Mercedes cut in.

"Aww, you don't like his sunglasses? I think they're adorable."

"Your new boo looks like a douchebag, Kurt Hummel. He's even worse than Artie."

"Harsh," Artie muttered. Tina patted him on the back comfortingly while Mike watched the exchange between Mercedes and Kurt with a grin.

"You've only met him twice, though, Mercedes."

"So have you!"

"Yeah, but I danced with him."

"_Drunk."_

"Whatever, haters to the left," Kurt retorted, raising his hand palm-up in protest.

"Oh, you mean the kid with the sunglasses that seems to be friends with Sam?" Rachel questioned. "He's cute."

"See?" Kurt crossed his arms as though Rachel's opinion was law. "And he's a singer, too. He's in the Glee Club at his school."

"Are we going to have to compete against them?" Mike asked curiously.

"I don't think so. They're an all-boys private school so they're in a different division. We shouldn't compete against them unless they make it all the way to Nationals."

"Well, either way, I'm sure we have the talent to beat them," Rachel pointed out, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I heard Mr. Schuester's doing a special assignment this year, to help prepare us for Nationals as well as for our future. With luck, it'll be something that gives me a lot of solos so I can train my voice in preparation for that one special solo that'll carry us to vic-"

"Rachel. More tots. Now," Mercedes cut in through gritted teeth.

"But you haven't even finished-"

"Go."

Rachel sighed, then got to her feet and trudged back to the lunch line. Mercedes reached for Kurt's hand and they wiggled their fingers together triumphantly, matching smirks on their faces. Tina and Artie shared grins beside them, and Mike took a deep breath, then forced another smile to match theirs, resisting the urge to look over at his old lunch table.

* * *

><p>"I want to try something new this year."<p>

Will folded his hands in front of him, and several members of the Glee Club exchanged looks as he turned and moved to the board, lifting a marker and writing the words "Your Future".

"You guys…" He observed them for a moment, then let out a small laugh. "Just looking at you…you've all grown up so much in just one year. Pretty soon, you'll be graduating and going off to college. And I'm sure you all know that you're the closest thing I have to children. I want you to go on and be successful in life, and so I'm going to prepare you guys in the best way I know how. I want you to start examining who you are. Get inside yourself-"

"_Wanky_."

"-and figure out what you want. Figure out what you want to do with your _lives_. Who are you? Who are you going to be? Who do you _want _to be? So, here's what I'm adding to our usual plans for this year. In addition to your usual assignments, and to our preparations for Sectionals, Regionals, and hopefully Nationals…I'm occasionally going to give you all an extra themed assignment about yourself. The only exception to this is Sam," he nodded in Sam's direction, who furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "This is your first year here, and from what I've heard, your first time in a Glee Club, so I'm going to let you have this year just to feel it out without any extra stress. But for the rest of you, I'm reintroducing the hat of fate. And when I do, I'm going to write a question on the board that I want each of you to answer, and then I'm going to draw a name out of the hat, and that person will look deep inside themselves, and tackle that question with a solo that answers it. This year, you'll be doing some soul-searching."

"But Mr. Schuester, what about the people whose names aren't drawn out of the hat? Do they not sing?" Rachel asked worriedly, straightening up in her seat.

"Don't worry; whoever wants to sing, can. But they'll have to find someone to perform with them, no solos, and even _that _is just optional. The only required song will be a solo from the name drawn out of the hat. Each of you will only have your name drawn once, so there will be eleven assignments. And if we make it to Sectionals and Regionals, the lucky person whose name I draw won't have to answer any questions…they'll just get the solo during those competitions."

Immediately, murmurs broke out, and Rachel spoke loudest of all. "That's highly unethical!"

"Well, here's lesson number one for you, Rachel: you're going to have to learn to trust your teammates," Will replied jokingly. "Now, the first question is actually going to be this week's assignment, so here it is…" He moved to the board, and under his previous words, added: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Artie laughed. "That's so basic."

"You'd be surprised by how many people aren't sure," Will told him. "Plus, finding a song is part of the challenge. Now…" He grabbed the hat resting on the piano and jiggled it a little, mixing up the papers inside. "Our lucky first participant and performer of a solo answering this question will be…" He drew a paper out and exclaimed, "Mike!"

Mike swallowed hard as the rest of the club turned to look at him, and Tina shot him an encouraging smile. "I have to go first? I've never even had a solo before."

"All the more reason for you to get your chance early on, then," Will told him with a smile. He focused on all of them next, clapping his hands together. "Alright, guys, that's it for today. We'll meet back here every afternoon for discussion on our set list for Sectionals, and whoever else wants to complete the assignment, can. Mike, your solo's due by next Monday."

* * *

><p>"What <em>do <em>you want to be when you grow up?" Tina questioned as Mike pulled up to the front of her house and parked his car with a shrug.

"It's not really up to me, I don't think. I'm taking over my father's car sales business."

"Well, the assignment doesn't ask what your parents are forcing you to be," she replied, shooting him a sympathetic look. "You can sing about anything. Even being a dancer."

"Yeah…I don't know. I guess I'll give it some thought." He forced a smile as she leaned in to kiss him goodbye on the cheek.

"Alright. Say hi to Brittany for me."

"Okay. Remember-"

"Asian Club," she replied pointedly, slamming the door shut behind her and waving at him as he drove off.

A few minutes later, he pulled up to a dance studio in the busiest part of Lima and got out of his car, ducking inside the studio and grinning when he spotted Brittany doing the tango with one of their usual students, James: a man in his early twenties whose wedding was coming up. He was learning quicker than anyone else they taught on a regular basis. "You're late!" Brittany called out over the music, grinning over at him as James spun her around and then dipped her. She muttered a compliment to him and then waved him away, and he smiled at her but left to go dance with another woman in the studio. Brittany grabbed a nearby towel and walked over to Mike, wiping at her neck with it.

"Hey, yeah, traffic was kind of bad."

"Santana drove me here okay," Brittany replied.

"Yeah, but I had to go drop Tina off first. Anyway, so we're tangoing today?" he questioned, observing the couples attempting to do just that. Most of them were failing miserably.

"Totally. I gave them hip hop for the warm-up, though," she told him, grinning.

"Oh, that's evil," he replied with a grin of his own. "No wonder they look so worn out."

"Come on," she gripped his hand and pulled him forward, to the front of the room. A few of the regulars who noticed Mike's arrival smiled over at him and waved, but most were too absorbed in keeping up with the few people who knew what they were doing to even notice anything around them. Mike clapped his hands to get their attention, and Brittany moved to the radio, struggling with it for a moment before finally discovering how to turn it off.

"Grab the remote," Mike suggested, pointing to it, and Brittany carried it back to him and placed it in his hand. He set it down on the ground, a little off to the side so it wouldn't get in the way. "Alright, guys," he addressed the class. "As you know, today we'll be doing the tango. I trust Brittany's caught you up on the basics?" Everyone exchanged confused looks, and Mike sighed knowingly. Brittany was often off in her own little world while dancing, and as a result her instructions were usually hard to follow. "Okay, let's go over them again, then. Everyone face your partners." He and Brittany turned towards each other, and Brittany shot him a smile while Mike stepped forward. "Guys, place your right hand on the middle of her back and your left hand out to the side. Girls, your left hand should be on his shoulder and your right hand should be clasped in his. Alright, hold that position, and we'll start the music. Brittany and I will demonstrate, and you can jump in whenever you feel comfortable. It's not as hard as it looks."

He paused, then left Brittany to get the remote and click the music on. Once they were back in position, they immediately started moving together fluidly, Brittany's focus completely on the music and Mike's focus on Brittany. She stepped back when he moved forward, stepped right when he stepped left, and twirled the second his body moved to twirl her, like she could read every move he made the second he thought to make it. At the end of the dance, he spun her into him and pulled her so close their noses were nearly touching. The song ended with him breathing heavily, but Brittany looked perfectly calm, staring at him for a moment through half-lidded eyes before a grin spread across her lips and she pulled away, looking over at the rest of the class. None of them had moved, and most of them looked stunned. "And that's how you do it!" she announced proudly. "Is that all for today, Mike?"

"Um…I think that's enough demonstrating," Mike confirmed, swallowing hard. "Maybe now we'll just let you guys do it, and we'll go around the room and make adjustments as we see fit. Alright?" He grabbed the remote and restarted the song, and, hesitantly, everyone began moving to the beat, though Mike couldn't help but notice that none of them did it anywhere near as well as Brittany had.

* * *

><p>"See you next lesson, Mike. I think that's the day after tomorrow…but I don't know when <em>that<em> is because I can't remember what day today is. But I'm sure Santana will remind me." Brittany leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, then made her way towards the exit, glancing over at James on the way. A quick look passed between the two of them before she pushed open the door and left to presumably get in Santana's car. Mike's eyebrows furrowed but he shook it off quickly, raising a hand to his cheek instead and letting a small smile pass across his lips.

When he got home, his parents were sitting at the table waiting for him, like he expected they'd be. His dad motioned for him to sit down, and he did so. "You're later than we expected. Did Asian Club go well?"

"Yes, sir."

His father scrutinized him for a moment. "You look a little…sweaty."

"It was Asian Cuisine Day," Mike thought fast. "There were some peppers involved."

"Ah. Well, how was school today?"

"Fine."

"Any homework due tomorrow?"

"No, sir."

His parents exchanged looks and his father nodded. "Alright, then. Your mother wants to know if you're busy tomorrow after school."

"Yeah, I have Glee and then football practice. Why?"

His mother smiled at him kindly. "I just thought tomorrow night would be a great day for Tina-"

"_Mom_…"

"Don't interrupt your mother, Michael."

"We haven't seen her since last Monday. She should visit more often."

"I have football practice," Mike repeated, struggling not to grit his teeth. His father leveled him with a steely gaze and he eased up immediately, letting out a sigh. "I guess she could stay after with me, and we could both come home together?"

"Fantastic," his mother replied, instantly excited. "I'll cook everything we have, and maybe Tina's parents might even-"

"Just Tina is fine for now, I would think," Mr. Chang interrupted calmly. "We have plenty of time to get to know the rest of her family."

"Actually, I do have a homework assignment," Mike cut in, desperate to change the subject. "It's for Glee Club."

His father barely suppressed an eye-roll. "You know, you'd be much more useful around the house after school than you are in that ridiculous club."

"I'm to sing about what I want to be when I grow up," he replied, ignoring his father's previous statement. "You could help me pick a song, if you'd like."

"Well, you're taking over the family business. I'm not sure there are any songs about selling cars," his father joked, exchanging an amused look with his wife. "Good luck though, son."

They got up and left the table – his father to go to his study, and his mother to go cook dinner – and Mike shook his head, sitting back in his chair with a sigh.


	5. Mike Part 2 of 3

**A/N: Sorry for the wait; here's a long chapter to make up for it :)**

**Also, to the person who reviewed asking if this would be more dramatic like the real Skins or comedic like Glee, I can't say I know for sure since I'm not anywhere near finished yet, but I'm thinking it will be a cross between the two, and it would also depend on what you define "dramatic" as. It definitely won't be as dark as "Skins" is (with deaths and depression, etc) but there will be some substance abuse like you've already seen so far. I don't know if I'm going to include drugs, though. The amount of comedy also depends on the character I'm focusing on and what issues they're dealing with, like Artie's and Tina's chapters probably won't be too rough, while Santana's will probably be a little bit more serious, for example.**

**Anyway, thanks to whoever's reading; I appreciate it. I know stories that aren't under the "romance" category with a specific pairing attached don't get too many hits and reviews, so I do appreciate everything I do get. **

* * *

><p>"Hey, Mike, help Sam out with clearing the field, would you? It looks like it's about to rain," Finn called to him as the rest of the team trudged off the field towards the locker rooms. Mike let out a sigh but nodded his agreement, turning around and jogging back to Sam, who was picking up the cones that had helped them with running drills during practice. Sam laughed when he saw Mike.<p>

"Oh, they're giving me help today?"

"Guess so. Not sure why; a little rain won't kill you. Even the Cheerios are still practicing." He gestured to the other side of the field, where Coach Sylvester had all the girls still running their routine in preparation for their upcoming competition.

"Yeah. Guess the football team isn't as tough as they want everyone to think," Sam joked. "Even Tina's roughing it out here just waiting for you." He nodded to the benches, where Tina was still waiting patiently.

"Yep." Mike bent down to pick up another cone, and Sam noticed the distressed look on his face.

"Hey…how are things going with you two? Everything okay?"

"Uh…yeah. Everything's cool." He kept his eyes on the cones and wouldn't look at Sam, which only led him to be more suspicious.

"You sure, Mike?"

Mike paused for a moment, thinking something over, then straightened up and looked over at Sam. "No, you know what? Everything is really _not _okay with us. Not at all." He went back the cones and Sam stared at him for a moment.

"Uh…you wanna share anything beyond that? Maybe I can help. I mean, I went to an all-boys school but I do have a _little _experience with talking to girls and stuff. What's up with you guys?"

"Well, for one thing, I'm pretty sure she still has feelings for Artie. They used to date. But the thing is, I'm actually not bothered by that at all because I'm only dating her to make my parents happy. They want me to date an Asian girl and Tina's the only one in Lima, so here we are. They'd kill me if I broke up with her."

"Wait, so…you guys are in, like, an arranged relationship?"

"No. We actually got together on our own," Mike explained. "We met at Asian Camp over the summer and hooked up there while Tina was still with Artie, and she broke up with him to be with me. We fooled around behind my parents' back for a while because I wasn't allowed to have a girlfriend, and one day they caught us making out in my bedroom. Turns out, it wasn't that I wasn't allowed to have a girlfriend…they just wanted it to be an Asian girl and decided to ban me from all girls because they figured the chances of me dating an Asian one in Lima were slim to none. They were actually thrilled when they found out we were together." He paused to take a breath. "And now, I've slowly begun to realize that the only reason I liked being with Tina so much in the first place was because I thought I was doing something my parents wouldn't want me to. Now that she's gotten their approval and they want her around all the time, I'd rather be single. Or actually, scratch that; I think I might have feelings for someone else," he said, glancing over towards the Cheerios. "So yeah, _that's _what's going on with me and Tina right now."

When he finally looked over at Sam, Sam's mouth was open slightly and his eyes had widened. "…Dude. Then _break up _with her. You said she might still have feelings for Artie anyway, so what's the big deal?"

"My parents."

"Do your parents change your diaper every morning too? Do they feed you your bottle and are they picking out what you eat every morning and what you're going to do with your entire life?" Sam questioned with a roll of his eyes, moving onto another cone.

"Actually, yes to the last two," Mike mumbled bitterly. "Know any songs about car sales?"

"Man, fuck them. Do what you want with your life. My parents would probably like me to be a rocket scientist. Sorry, but that's not in the cards. Your parents will get over it."

"No, _your _parents would get over it. Mine would go on and on about how I'm a failure and how I've shamed the family name."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you," Sam replied with a shrug. "But you have my advice. If you don't want to take it, I guess that's your choice." The sound of thunder boomed above them as they finished picking up the last of the cones, and Mike tossed the stack in his hands to Sam.

"I'll see you later. Tina's coming over to my house for dinner and my parents will be upset if she's late."

"Right, wouldn't want to disappoint them," Sam muttered. Mike shot him a glare and then went to join Tina by the benches, plastering a fake smile to his face.

"Ready to go?" she asked him.

"Yep. Dinner for four, coming right up," he replied, reaching over and taking her hand in his.

* * *

><p>The dining room was silent save for the clinking of silverware and occasional thud of glasses being placed back on the table, and Mike exchanged an uncomfortable look with Tina from across the table. His parents were sitting at each of the heads, and after another full minute of quiet, Mr. Chang straightened up and dabbed at his chin with a napkin. "So, have you two talked about plans after high school?"<p>

"Dad…" Mike started to complain, feeling himself begin to blush with embarrassment. He made sure to avoid Tina's eyes as his dad began to reply, but he could feel Tina staring at him all the while.

"I'm just making sure your futures are planned out carefully. You two need to know what you're doing once you graduate next year."

"Tina's going to look so beautiful in my old wedding dress," Mrs. Chang added wistfully.

Mike put his fork down roughly while Tina nearly choked on a spoonful of rice across from him. "See, _this _is why I never-" He paused at the look on his father's face, then pushed back his chair abruptly and looked to Tina. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Sure," Tina replied hastily, clearly eager to leave the room, and Mike practically dragged her to the front door by her hand.

"But you've hardly eaten anything!" Mrs. Chang called after them.

"We're not hungry, Mom," Mike retorted quickly, stepping across the threshold of the front door and pulling Tina with him. He slammed the door behind them a moment later, and Tina let out a heavy sigh.

"God, I'd forgotten how smothery they are."

"Understatement of the century," Mike agreed, shoving his hands into his pockets and stepping down off the front porch, onto the walkway leading to his driveway. Tina followed him hesitantly as he headed for the street. "This dinner was an awful idea."

"At least we've reconfirmed they still like me," Tina added jokingly, barely keeping pace with him.

"Yeah, I never doubted that," Mike muttered. Tina's eyebrows furrowed and she caught his arm suddenly, stopping him and turning him around.

"Mike…are you okay? You've seemed a little…_off_…these past few days."

"You noticed," he deadpanned unexpectedly. "I would've thought you were too busy with Artie."

Tina looked taken aback. "_Artie_? Mike, Artie and I are just friends. You know that. It's never bothered you before that we're still close. What's _really _wrong?" He stared at his shoes and didn't reply, and after a long pause, she hesitantly added, "_We've _been off for a while, too, haven't we?"Mike swallowed hard, then looked back to his house. Tina followed his gaze sadly. "Is this about them?"

"…They _really _like us together," Mike told her carefully. "If I ever broke up with you-"

"So, what, you're using me?" She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Did you ever even like me in the first place, Mike, or was I just the only Asian girl available?"

He sighed. "Tina, it wasn't like that at first…" He made a grab for her arm but she yanked it away and pushed past him angrily, storming off.

"Oh, well that's good to know," she snarled over her shoulder. "I broke up with a guy I really liked for you!"

"Tina, you don't even have a car!" He shouted back, noting that she evidently planned to walk home alone.

"I don't mind the exercise!" she retorted without turning around. Her pace increased and soon enough she was barely a dot in the distance. Mike stared after her with his jaw clenched until even the dot was nonexistent, then pulled out his phone and sent off a quick text to Mercedes telling her where Tina was and asking her to come pick her up. When he received an agreement in response, he turned and headed back to his house. Inside, both of his parents were still eating, and looked up upon hearing him come in.

"Where's Tina?" his mother asked.

"She didn't feel good," Mike thought up. "She went home early."

"Well I certainly hope she gets better in time for my colleague's dinner party this weekend," Mr. Chang replied.

"Dinner party?" Mike echoed, confused. "You didn't tell me anything about a dinner party."

"It was supposed to be a surprise," his mother told him with a smile. "Your father's got a friend who knows a lot of rich men looking to buy expensive cars. We're all going to his party this weekend. We wanted to ask Tina tonight if she'd go as your date."

"You'll have to talk her into going, of course," his father continued. "If we want to make a good impression on possible buyers, a girl like Tina on your arm is certain to help. Talk to her about it, will you Michael?"

"Actually, I don't think…" His father fixed him with a stern look and he gulped. "…it'll be a problem."

His mother brightened across the table. "Oh, this'll be wonderful! I can do her hair and makeup and find her the perfect dress…"

Mike left the room as his mother continued to gush about the party preparations, heading for his bedroom and slamming the door behind himself. He glanced around at the mirrors lining the walls, then clenched his hand into a fist and darted forward, punching one of them so hard the glass cracked. "Shit!"

* * *

><p>"How do you know it was a breakup?"<p>

"Believe me, it felt like a breakup, it looked like a breakup, and it sounded like a breakup. Chances are…it was a breakup," Mike informed Finn, following him through the lunchroom until they arrived at Finn's usual lunch table.

"So if you need her for your dinner party thing, shouldn't you be over at her table making things up to her?" Sam asked on his other side. "Why'd you break up, anyway?"

"She figured out I was kind of being a jerk," Mike mumbled as the three Cheerios of the group approached the table.

"Why are you a jerk?" Santana questioned curiously as she set her tray down and made a face at Puck, who had just let out an obnoxiously loud burp.

"Hey, Mike," Brittany threw in, giving him a flirty smile and wave that distracted him for a good three seconds before he finally remembered Santana's question. Both Santana and Quinn raised their eyebrows at him apprehensively as his cheeks went slightly red, and Santana glanced in Brittany's direction with the same expression still on her face.

"Oh, um…I kind of only dated Tina because my parents wanted me to. She found out last night."

"Dude, why are you always your parents' bitch all the time?" Puck questioned incredulously. "Tina's a loser; dating her practically cost you your popularity."

"Don't call her that," Mike snapped back, glancing across the room anxiously. Tina seemed determined not to look his way and was deep in conversation with Artie and Rachel. Mercedes and Kurt, for their part, were all about staring at Mike at the moment, and seemed to be whispering to each other about something. Most likely, Mike himself. "She's a nice girl, alright? I'm the one in the wrong here. Anyway, now they're going to kill me if they find out I lost her, and I really need her to come to this dinner party this weekend, even if I _really _don't want to go at all, just to keep up appearances one last time before I finally find a way to talk to my parents about this."

"What are you going to say to her?" Finn questioned.

"What are you going to say to your _parents_?" Puck added.

Mike put his head in his hands. "I have no idea. I'm so dead."

"If you're that desperate, why don't you just find another Asian girl?" Sam pointed out. "There has to be at least one here besides Tina."

"This is Lima, Sam, not Chinatown," Santana informed him with a roll of her eyes. "It's basically Tina or nothing."

Mike heaved a sigh. "I'm screwed."

"Well," Brittany started, speaking up again and catching everyone else's attention. "Maybe they'll be nice to you. You could bring another girl and say Tina got eaten by my cat Lord Tubbington…" Quinn and Santana shook their heads at her slowly, and the rest of her suggestion died in her throat. "No? Okay…"

Mike shot her a small smile anyway. "Thanks for the suggestion, Brittany."

She responded with one of her own, and after a moment, Mike broke eye contact to glance towards Tina, only to find her staring back at him. He looked away guiltily, failing to notice Santana still watching him and Brittany suspiciously from across the table.

* * *

><p>The dance lesson for today, Mike recalled, was the most grueling of all lessons: hip hop. It required a lot more preparation than the others, and so he and Brittany found themselves at the studio together a half hour earlier than usual, practicing some of the moves together.<p>

"So…pop...glide, heel toe, spin?" Mike repeated, executing the moves in order as he said them aloud. Brittany grinned at him as he came out of his spin.

"Yep, but your glide's too short. Do it like this." She spread her arms out to her sides and then pushed off with her left foot, sliding smoothly across the floor for a little over a second before coming to a stop. Mike watched her carefully, then copied the motions nearly perfectly, earning him another smile from Brittany. "Perfect! One more thing, though. When you do the chest pop, you're not going out far enough." She stuck her hand about a foot in front of his chest and suggested, "This time when you do it, make sure you come out far enough to touch my hand."

"Alright, I can do that." He waited for an appropriate time in the music, then started their routine a few steps ahead of the pop, leading into it and then finishing it off by popping his chest forward so that it brushed Brittany's fingertips. The contact made his cheeks heat up and he stumbled on accident, crashing right into her and grabbed onto her arms to steady her. Brittany struggled to keep her balance and finally managed it by grabbing onto his shirt, right at the front of his chest.

Mike flushed darker now that the two of them were nearly pressed together, and immediately squeaked out, "Sorry."

Brittany, like always, didn't seem fazed, and simply smiled calmly, her eyes on his lips now. "That's okay…" Her hand wound around to the back of his neck and he gulped as she leaned in closer. "You're totally hot…" He gripped at her hips as she moved in to press her lips to his, and her hand slid up to tighten in his hair, pulling him even closer.

They broke apart suddenly as the door to the studio opened suddenly and in walked James, who looked surprised to see them both there. "Oh, Mike…didn't know you'd be here early today."

"Um, yeah," Mike barely managed to reply as Brittany went to go turn off the radio like nothing had happened. "We were going over the moves for today."

"I'm surprised you need the practice," James replied with a laugh. "You two always look like you know what you're doing, and you're amazing for your age."

"Thanks. I'm just glad they let us teach a class here. Even if it is for free. I love dancing so sharing it with other people is…yeah…" His head was still swimming as he rubbed at it hastily, but James' attention was on Brittany now, who rejoined them in the middle of the dance floor.

"Mike, you can handle setting up for class, right?" Brittany asked him happily. "I think James wanted me to show him pictures of the new speakers we're getting. They're in the closet down the hall."

"Oh, yeah," James agreed quickly. "I've been really wanting to see those. I'm totally a closet techie." He pressed a finger to his lips with a smile. "Don't tell."

Mike forced a laugh. "Yeah, I think I can handle it. You two go ahead."

Brittany grabbed at James' hand and pulled him away immediately, but not before winking over her shoulder at Mike. His cheeks colored all over again.

* * *

><p>"I, uh…I think I might ask her out."<p>

"Tina?" Finn replied disinterestedly, messing with the test tube lying on their shared table.

"Um…no." Mike lowered his voice to a whisper. "Brittany."

Finn's eyes widened and he nearly dropped the tube. "What? Are you insane?"

"No…I mean, I'm not, am I? What's wrong with Brittany?"

"Maybe the fact that she'll sleep with anything that has a pulse?"

"Oh, come on. Those rumors are always exaggerated. What happened to you _encouraging _me to get with her?"

"Dude, I was kidding before; you have no chance. And those rumors aren't exaggerated; not with her. Trust me. Besides, what happened to Tina? I thought you were going to make things right with her so she'd go with you to that party."

"I know, but…I already used her enough for one year, don't you think? She's obviously happier spending all her time with Artie, anyway." Finn followed Mike's gaze, and, true to Mike's word, Artie and Tina still held their lab partner status and looked to be having more fun with the current experiment than any other pairing in the class. "And I think she deserves that after I led her on for so long."

"Okay, but you should still leave Brittany alone. You're playing with fire, dude. I know how you are." Finn fixed him with a pointed look. "You're the kind of dude that gets _feelings_ for girls…like me. Girls like Brittany only work well with guys like Puck. I'm sure she's great in bed but if you want something more than that…there's no chance."

"Well, there's a first time for everything."

"Yeah, including a broken heart courtesy of Brittany Pierce. If you go for it, prepare to feel like shit afterward. You'll never get anywhere past sex with her. And even if by some miracle you did, she'd just cheat on you later anyway." Mike shot him an accusatory look and opened his mouth, but Finn interrupted hastily, "And _don't _even start with the Rachel stuff, either."

"Whatever."

* * *

><p>"Is something going on with you and Mike?"<p>

Brittany put down her bottle of Sue's Master Cleanse, wiping at her mouth as she turned towards Santana curiously. "Like what?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Like are you _fucking_ him?"

Brittany giggled. "Oh, no. We totally made out yesterday before dance class, though. He tasted like fried rice and soy sauce. It was hot."

"Gross." Santana wrinkled her nose. "You know Tina's gonna kill you, right?"

The blonde's smile dropped. "Can she do that? Does she know karate?"

Santana looked away from her to hide another eye-roll. "You should be more careful about who you hook up with, Britt, or pretty soon you're gonna have a mob of angry girls…and probably some _guys, _for that matter…chasing you down the street with torches and pitchforks. At least _I _stick to guys I know won't get me in trouble."

Brittany only sighed wistfully. "I wonder what Mike would think of a threesome?"

"I'm _not _sleeping with Mike."

Brittany pouted at her and opened her mouth to respond, but Puck interrupted them by arriving at their lunch table with Quinn, Sam and Finn. "Guys," he immediately began, his voice lowered conspiratorially, "Listen, we're totally gonna crash Mike's dinner party thing this weekend, alright?"

Sam's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would we do that?"

"Because I'm bored and it'd be hilarious as hell. He doesn't wanna go anyway, so it's not like we're ruining anything for him. I wanna find a fire alarm to pull and watch those suits run like hell when the water comes pouring down. It'll be fucking _epic_."

"I'm game," Finn agreed with a shrug. "Maybe we can take the heat off of Mike and they won't care so much about his breakup with Tina if we wreck the party."

"Good point," Sam nodded. "I'm in just for that."

"Ladies?" Puck questioned, looking across their lunch table. Brittany grinned, Santana smirked, and Quinn rolled her eyes, but grudgingly nodded her agreement.

"This is stupid, but whatever. I'll go if the party's not on Sunday; I have church."

Meanwhile, across the lunchroom, Mike took a deep breath, swallowed his pride, and approached Tina's lunch table with little reservation. With the exception of Rachel, none of them looked happy to see him. He cleared his throat. "Tina, can I talk to you alone for a minute?"

She glanced at Artie as though for support, then rolled her eyes and replied, "I think whatever you need to say you can say in front of everyone."

Mike sighed, then ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "…Okay. I wanted to apologize. I know what I did was awful and I really didn't mean to hurt you. What we had was completely real at the beginning; I really liked you and I still do as a friend. I want us to stay friends. I'm really, _really _sorry I led you on, but I only did it because I didn't want to upset anyone. I knew you were happy and I didn't want to hurt you, and I knew my parents were happy and I didn't want to disappoint them. It just seemed easier to be together even if that spark wasn't there anymore."

Tina heaved a sigh of her own. "You should've just told me the truth from the beginning, Mike."

"I know. It was my mistake."

"And you should learn to stand up to your parents, too."

"I know. I'm doing that…" he trailed off nervously for a moment. "Right after this weekend's over."

Tina stared at him for a moment, and then her eyes flickered toward the other enraptured students at their table. Finally, she took the bait, straightening up in her seat. "Alright, what's happening this weekend?"

"My dad is dragging my mom and me to a dinner party; it's something for his business and I have to go. They want me to take you as a date so-"

"So you come over here and apologize now that you need a favor," Tina cut in, rolling her eyes and turning away from him like she was done with their conversation.

"No! I promise that's not what this is. I really am sorry. And if you don't agree to go, I guess I'll just have to own up to my parents before the party rather than waiting until a few days afterward. But if you _could _go with me, I think it would soften the blow for my parents a little bit and maybe they'd go a little bit easier on me when they finally _do _learn the truth."

Tina was silent for a moment. "When's the party?"

"Saturday."

"What do I have to do if I say yes?"

"Just show up and be my date. You don't even have to talk to me a lot if you don't want to; we just have to look like we're still a couple."

"And you _do _know that if I go, it doesn't mean-"

"We're not back together, we're not involved in any way, we're not even officially friends again, if you don't want that," Mike finished. "This is just you doing me a favor out of the kindness of your heart. Got it."

Tina was quiet again, then shook her head, exasperated, and nodded her agreement. "Fine. But after this I'm done with you. I don't want to talk to you ever again outside of Glee Club."

Mike watched her sadly for a moment, then pushed off the table and backed away a little, preparing to return to his own lunch table. "Okay."

When he sat down next to Finn and across from Brittany, the atmosphere immediately seemed a little off, like they all knew something he didn't. "What's up, guys?" he asked curiously.

"Did Tina agree to go to the party with you?" Sam questioned.

"Uh, yeah. It didn't go as well as I'd hoped, though. I don't think we'll ever be friends again."

"Eh, she'll come around," Puck assured him. "In the meantime, you should totally get back out there and find a new chick to hang all over."

"No, he shouldn't," Finn disagreed, shooting Mike a meaningful look while Brittany obliviously chugged the rest of her Master Cleanse and Santana watched Finn and Mike with an expression on her face that made her look like she had just smelled something foul. "He should take a break and _not _go after any girls he may be interested in. Right, Mike?"

Mike just forced a laugh and shrugged in response, carefully avoiding Finn's eyes.

* * *

><p>Their class wasn't due to start for at least another twenty minutes when Mike pulled up to the studio, but he knew from previous conversations with Brittany that she liked to show up early to dance by herself before everyone else arrived, even on days where their routines would be relatively easy for them to teach and for their students to learn. The one thing they both shared was their passion for dance, and if Mike had more free time like Brittany did, he'd most certainly do the same thing. Football ended up taking up most of that time, though, and he wondered how Brittany fit the time in to dance around her rigorous Cheerio schedule. Maybe Sue Sylvester recognized her talent and gave her more time off than the other Cheerios so she could hone that talent.<p>

Mike shrugged himself out of his thoughts and looked around as he shut his car off; there were two other cars in the parking lot, one of which blew his theory right out of the water when he recognized Santana in the front seat. She looked to be texting someone, and he got out of his car just as she set her phone down and turned the key in the ignition. Over the roar of the engine, she evidently heard Mike's car door slam, because a second later she was turning his way and furrowing her eyebrows at the bouquet of flowers he had pulled out of the car with him. He looked over at her when he heard her car shut off, and took that as a cue to approach her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked immediately, sliding her sunglasses off and replacing them on top of her head.

"Um…I come here almost every afternoon; Brittany and I teach-"

"I _know _you teach a class together," she interrupted him, clearly annoyed. "Why are you here early, and why are you carrying flowers?" He didn't reply immediately, and she exaggerated an eye roll. "Please, she is going to crush your tiny fragile heart into pieces. Are you seriously thinking about giving those to her?"

For the first time since his kiss with her, Mike started to feel a little hesitant about asking Brittany out. If there was anyone who knew anything about Brittany, it was Santana. Finn discouraging him was one thing, but Santana was a different thing entirely. "Maybe," he finally replied. "How do you know she'll turn me down?"

"Oh, she won't," Santana replied easily. "She'll probably say yes, let you take her out on a date, you'll make out, have sex if you feel like it, and then the next day she'll smile at you and you'll smile back until you see her hanging off someone else a few minutes later. Brittany doesn't _date_, okay? Not Puck, Artie, that kid that lives down the street from her house, Mr. Kinney…nobody. Neither of us does unless it boosts our reputation at McKinley. There's no point in being involved with all those stupid boys otherwise."

"Well…maybe I can change her mind," Mike suggested. "I'm not like Puck-"

"Which is why she'll eat your little Asian heart up for breakfast," Santana retorted smugly. "It's fine, though, _don't _take my advice. See what happens. In fact, I think you should go in there right now and see what she's up to."

Mike furrowed his eyebrows. "Fine. I will."

He turned away, and Santana blew a kiss after him sarcastically. "Good luck!"

He rolled his eyes to himself and tightened his grip on the bouquet, pushing through the front door to the studio and stepping inside. He looked around and saw that the room was empty, then glanced around himself, confused. In the silence that followed the front door slamming shut behind him, he picked up the sound of a thump from just down the hall.

Curious, he followed the sound of the noise, only to hear another louder thump as he got closer to the source. A moment later, he picked up the sound of a whimper, followed by a groan, and picked up his pace, jogging down the hallway until he eventually stopped at a closet door. Tensing protectively, he flung the door open, nearly pulling it off its hinges, and then froze in the doorway, blinking at the sight before him.

Brittany's shirt had evidently taken a temporary vacation with her shorts and James' shirt because all of them were missing, and before they could even separate fully, Mike lunged forward without thinking and grabbed at James' arm, wrenching him away from Brittany and then pushing him out into the hallway, where he tumbled to the ground due to having been caught off guard. "Dude, what the hell?" he shouted at Mike, who practically leapt on top of him and tried to punch his face in.

"How dare you do this to your fiancé," he growled, trying to get a good hit in while James shielded his face and tried to fight him off. "To Brittany! She's a minor, you disgusting piece of sh-"

"Whoa, whoa," Brittany cut in there, grabbing Mike's arms and pulling him away with surprising strength. The bouquet of flowers lay forgotten and partially squashed on the ground next to James. "Mike, calm down. It's okay. James is nice."

"_Nice_?" Mike looked at her incredulously, and she smiled carefully and nodded at him. He wrenched himself from her grip. "I'm calling the police."

"Nothing illegal about it, kid," James grunted out, slowly getting to his feet. "It was only kissing, and cheating isn't against the law."

"Get out," Mike bit out, setting his jaw. James stared back at him silently, and Brittany looked uncomfortable in between the both of them. "I teach this class too, and you're not welcome here anymore. Leave." He stepped forward threateningly, and James took a step back, wiping at a slightly bloody lip.

"Fine; chill out. We were just fooling around anyway." He turned and stalked off, and a minute later the front door slammed behind him. Mike heard his car starting up in the parking lot and focused his attention on Brittany, who was now looking back at him, disappointed.

"Why did you do that? I liked him."

"He's at least five years older than you, Brittany," Mike spit out, bending down to recover his ruined flowers. "He could go to jail for that."

"Why? We were just having fun…"

"Yeah, well that stuff has _consequences_, okay?" he snapped, watching Brittany wince in response. "You don't just kiss people and expect it not to mean anything. You kissed me and…and look where we are. Look where I am." He shook his head disappointedly. "I look like an idiot."

"No you don't," Brittany insisted, smiling at him. "I think that outfit looks really nice on you. And I kissed you because I like you, Mike. I kiss everyone I like."

"I think you have issues you need to work out by yourself," Mike replied slowly, ignoring the way her smile faded slightly at his response. "Or not. Maybe you don't. Maybe Santana and Finn were right and it's just not the type of thing I'm cut out to be a part of. And…and I guess, you know, what goes around comes around. I shouldn't be giving these flowers to you to try and get you to go out with me… I should be giving them to Tina and apologizing. Because she probably felt the same way I'm feeling right about now." He brushed past her and headed for the door. "Bye Brittany; I think you should be able to handle our class today. You're a better dancer than I am anyway."

"Mike…"

He ignored her, already halfway out the door.


	6. Mike Part 3 of 3

"Mike, you're finally home! How was-?"

"Fine, no homework, yes, Tina's coming to the dinner party with me, no thanks, I'm not hungry," Mike got out in one breath, brushing by his parents as they ate dinner and climbing the stairs to his bedroom.

Mr. and Mrs. Chang exchanged confused looks, then shrugged to themselves and went back to their meals.

In his room, Mike sat down at the computer on his desk and opened up a chat window, checking for lit up names on the side. He found Finn's and double-clicked it, and a new window popped up.

"_Are you there?" _he typed out, clicking "send" when he was done.

_"Yeah, what's up? You ask Brittany out?" _Finn replied a moment later.

_"Yeah. Please don't say 'I told you so'."_

_ "Ah. Tough luck, dude."_

_ "I'll get over it. Caught her in a closet with some guy from our dance class."_

_ "Harsh. You're right, though; you'll get over it. Some new chick is bound to come along soon and distract you anyway, haha. In the meantime you've gotta start looking for a song. You only have a few more days, man."_

Mike furrowed his eyebrows, then groaned. In all the chaos lately he'd completely forgotten about his assignment for Glee. _"Crap. Dude, there aren't any songs about car sales!"_

_ "Then write about what you wanna be instead. Not what your dad's making you be."_

_ "Do you know any songs about dancers either, though?"_

_ "Uh…no, not really. But you just gotta be creative about it. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Anyway, I gotta go; Rachel's calling."_

_ "In light of recent events, I really, REALLY want you to know that I think you should be honest with Quinn, dude. You can't keep doing this to her."_

_ "I know. I'll talk to you later, alright?"_

_ "Yeah. Bye."_

He closed the chat window and opened Google in another, rubbing at his sweaty forehead and then beginning his search for the right song.

* * *

><p>"Find a song?"<p>

"Nope. Still no luck." Mike stirred at the contents in the beaker in front of him absentmindedly, and Finn gave him a sympathetic look.

"Well, I found a couple I thought might help you out, just in case. One second." Finn bent down and dug through his backpack for a moment, before proudly straightening up with a piece of paper in his hand. He immediately started ringing off songs. "Tiny Dancer, by Elton John. Human, by The Killers. Dancing Queen, by ABBA. Just Dance, by Lady Gaga. Dance, Dance, by Fall Out Boy. I Hope You Dance, by Lee Ann Womack."

Mike forced a laugh. "I think most of those aren't what you think they're about, Finn."

"Hold on, hold on," he insisted defensively. "Let me finish. Slave 4 U, by Britney Spears."

"Alright, stop," Mike laughed out, gesturing for him to put the paper down. "As much as I hate to say it, you should probably leave this one to me, Finn. I appreciate the effort, though."

"If you insist," Finn sighed out, putting the paper back. When he faced Mike again, he glanced over both of their shoulders and muttered, "Hey, Brittany and Santana are both looking at you."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Please don't give me an update. I'm over it, really. The only girl I'll be talking to anytime soon is Tina."

"What, you wanna get back together with her?" Finn asked curiously.

"No, but I do owe her a huge apology. At the dinner party this weekend I'm going to try and make it up to her by being a perfect gentleman and apologizing until my throat's sore. Hopefully then I can save our friendship. I just need to make sure nothing goes wrong."

Finn's eyes widened considerably and he awkwardly cleared his throat. "Right. Well, I'm sure you'll do fine."

* * *

><p>"Dude!" Finn's voice was hushed as he caught up with Puck at his locker. "We need to call off the crashing."<p>

"You mean Mike's dinner party?"

"Yeah."

"No way, man. I only just got the address out of the rich kid a couple lockers down from me. This is some high class shit, Finn. Wrecking it's gonna be hilarious and Mike's face'll be priceless. With the way his parents have him by the balls all the time he'll be forever in our debt for doing this to them and their snobby friends. I have it all planned out; there's no stopping me now."

"But-"

"Trust me, dude, it's gonna be epic." Puck pushed past him without letting him continue, and Finn sighed to himself, leaning against the nearest locker hopelessly.

* * *

><p>Mike's stomach grumbled as he sat in the back row in the choir room and watched Quinn, Santana, and Brittany finish off the last chorus of the Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up". He hadn't wanted to sit as his usual lunch table that day, and of course he wasn't allowed back at Tina's, so as a result, he'd decided to skip lunch rather than eat alone.<p>

He pressed a hand to his midsection to try and silence it as the song came to a close, and the rest of the club clapped respectfully as the three girls took a seat. Rachel, Mercedes, and Kurt had been the only other members to sing, performing Fergie's "Glamorous" together (much to Will's chagrin and slight confusion), and now that all the other performances for the week had been completed, the attention was on Mike.

"Mike, since you're working by yourself, your song isn't due until Monday, but on the off-chance you're ready today, feel free to go head," Mr. Schuester told him kindly. "The floor is yours."

Mike cleared his throat awkwardly. "That's okay, Mr. Schue; I think I'm gonna go on Monday."

"That's fine. Just don't forget!" Will reminded him cheerfully. "I guess that means we're done today, guys. Have a great weekend!"

Mike stood up quickly and headed outside, intent on finding the nearest snack machine, but his plan to get food was foiled when he realized Brittany was just a few yards behind him and looked eager to have a conversation. Picking up his pace, he left for the parking lot, got in his car, and then drove away before Brittany could catch up again.

* * *

><p>"Thank you," Mike whispered in Tina's ear for what had to have been at least the tenth time as his parents steered them in the direction of someone who would most likely be one of Mr. Chang's future customers.<p>

"You can stop thanking me, Mike; I get it," Tina hissed back in response. "You're very thankful."

"Ian! I can call you Ian, right? This is my son, Mike, future owner of the family business, and hopefully the future co-runner of that business, his girlfriend Tina."

Mike suppressed an eye roll and smiled up at the man in front of them, stretching his hand out for an obligatory handshake. The man kissed Tina's hand next and told them, "Wow, what a beautiful young lady. Your son's very lucky, Mr. Chang."

"We're very aware," Mike's father replied with a smile, eyeing Mike and Tina happily.

"Dad, Tina's thirsty," Mike interrupted abruptly. "I think we're going to go get something to drink, if you don't mind."

"Certainly," his father replied, clearly more interested in talking to Ian now that it looked like he had an opening to try and make a sale. Mike found a punch bowl a good distance away and headed in that direction, Tina grudgingly tagging along at his side.

"How much longer is this going to last?" she questioned, rubbing at her shoulder. "This dress is like a size too small; it was the only good one I had that still remotely fit."

"I think just about an hour," Mike replied. After a pause, he added, "It looks good on you."

"Oh, whatever."

Mike raised a glass of punch to his lips sheepishly while Tina crossed her arms. "Really, you look great. Any guy would be lucky to have you." Tina sighed and rolled her eyes, and Mike winced to himself. "…Too soon?"

"Yeah. Please don't. I'm only doing this because as much as I'm angry at you right now, I still don't want your father to kill you."

"Yeah, well…it's only delaying the inevitable, really. If I'm not at school Monday call 911. Or just skip that and go straight to the coroner's office."

"Shut up; they're not _actually _going to kill you," Tina insisted. Mike looked doubtful of her statement and she added, "…Right?"

"Honestly, I'm not one-hundred percent sure they won't," he replied, staring at his dad across the bustling room.

* * *

><p>"Shh," Puck hissed to Sam, wincing as the blonde boy's shoe made contact with the stone floor just a little too loudly. Behind him in a line came Santana, Brittany, Quinn, and Finn, the latter of whom kept looking around them hesitantly.<p>

"Puck, I _really _don't think we should do this," he insisted. "Mike's going to be angry."

"He's really not fun when he's angry," Brittany agreed somewhat nervously, earning herself an elbow in the ribs and a shush from Santana.

"Hear them?" Puck questioned with a grin, tilting his head as the distant sound of chatter reached their ears. "I bet the room's just down this hallway." They crept farther along, Finn muttering protests all the way, until the voices grew to their loudest volume yet, and Puck brought them to a stop outside another, larger door. "It's just through here!" he insisted, withdrawing a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his jeans pockets when he spotted a fire alarm on the ceiling nearby. "Okay, give me a lift."

Sam kneeled down below the alarm and stuck both hands out in front of him while Puck got the cigarette lit. Everyone immediately looked to Finn, who sighed in response. "Guys…"

"Oh, quit being such a pussy," Puck cut in, grabbing him by his shirt and pulling him to stand next to Sam. "Just boost me up." Reluctantly, Finn kneeled down in front of Sam and stuck his hands out. "Okay, on three: one, two…three!" He jumped onto both of their hands and immediately smushed them into the floor, collapsing on the ground a moment later. Both Finn and Sam howled with pain, clutching one of their hands with the other, and Quinn quickly moved to squish the abandoned cigarette with her foot before it caught something on fire.

"You guys are pathetic," Santana told them, rolling her eyes and snatching another cigarette and the lighter out of Puck's hands. "Let us handle this." She lit the cigarette herself and gestured for Sam and Finn to get out of the way, then handed it to a less-than-enthused-looking Quinn. "Relax; it's not like you have to smoke it. Britt and I will give you a lift, and you just have to hold it there until the alarm goes off."

Quinn sighed, but rolled her eyes and replied, "Fine. But if you two drop me-"

"Have we _ever_?" Santana interrupted.

"No, but I've also never been talked into holding a cigarette up to a fire alarm, so I don't really expect _anything _to go the way it should today," Quinn responded, but stepped into Brittany's outstretched hands nonetheless. The boys watched on as Santana helped boost Quinn into the air, and each girl held her up by an ankle as she raised the cigarette to the alarm and held it there.

Just down the hallway, a bathroom door swung open and two men in tuxedos stepped out, deep in conversation until they looked to their right and froze, staring at the six teenagers in front of them.

"Shit," Santana muttered, startling Quinn, who looked down, spotted the men, and immediately lost her balance, collapsing onto Brittany and Santana. The three boys were already looking around to decide where the best place to escape was, but Puck made the decision for them.

"Time for Plan B!" He headed straight for the door where the voices were coming from, pushed them wide open, yelled, "It's party time!", and, once the attention was on him, pulled a fire alarm on the wall just inside the room by the doorway. The sprinklers on the ceiling instantly let loose and surprised screams immediately filled the room. Women raised their arms to cover their hair and men hurried to shield their dates from the water while Puck cackled evilly and moved to jump on top of the buffet table, kicking glasses and plates off of it as he made his way closer to Mike, who was looking at him like he was insane. Beside him, Tina actually looked fairly amused, and didn't seem to mind that her hair and dress were growing damp.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mike called out to Puck, who jumped off the table to reply.

"We're crashing the party, dude!" Puck replied, gesturing to where Santana, Sam, and surprisingly Quinn had all begun a food fight with the large cake near their end of the table. Finn and Brittany stood on watching them until a stray piece of cake made contact with Finn's chest and he immediately joined in. "Come on; lighten up!" Puck continued, patting him on the shoulder. "Have some fun for once!"

"But-" Mike started, cutting himself off when Tina let out a laugh at something that had apparently happened with the others and charged forward, excitedly joining the cake fight. "My parents are going to kill me," he finished hopelessly to Puck.

"All the more reason to live a little while you still have the chance," Puck pointed out.

Mike watched Puck turn away to grab a glass of punch and toss the contents at an unsuspecting Santana, and, finally, with a smile, dashed forward to join the group as the room continued to clear out while the rest of the guests tried to get out from under the sprinklers. Sometime between hitting Finn in the face with a blob of icing and getting punch dumped on him by Sam, Mike felt a hand grab his arm and begin to pull him out of the fray. A minute later, he found himself face to face with Brittany, who wiped icing out of her eyes while the water took care of the cake in her hair.

"Hey!" she said loudly, over the sound of their classmates and the alarms and the sprinklers. "Can we talk?"

Mike looked back at their friends for a moment, then grudgingly agreed, "Just for a second."

Brittany pulled a sympathetic face and immediately got to the point, "I'm sorry, Mike. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Mike shrugged. "I know."

"It's just that…I don't know how to be any other way than how I am. I like you but I don't think I can be your girlfriend. I really can't be anyone's girlfriend. Well, I mean…I could but I think it wouldn't really work with most people I know…probably maybe like only one person I know, really, because it'd kinda just have to be someone I really, _really _like. Like, someone who I would trade kissing everyone else in the world for just kissing them. And I really like kissing a lot of people, you know?"

"I know," Mike repeated, forcing a laugh. "I get it, Brittany. Really."

"Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Because you're awesome, and stuff, and I would totally kiss you if you were okay with me kissing other people, but I think you're too sweet for that, and I don't want to hurt your feelings again. But we can totally be friends, right?"

"Yeah." Mike nodded. "I'd like that."

"Great!" Brittany smiled happily at him, but it died a second later when her eyes slid past him to focus on something just behind him. Mike gulped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and when he turned around, he found himself looking into the eyes of a furious Mr. Chang.

* * *

><p>"How on <em>earth <em>could you disgrace our family like this?"

"I'm sorry, Dad…I didn't even know-"

"First you lie to us about breaking up with a lovely girl like Tina, then you disrespect my business by losing me dozens of potential customers! And those…those _delinquents _you call friends…they're from that silly club I never wanted you to join in the first place! I knew that club was nothing but trouble!"

"Dad," Mike tried again, focusing his eyes on their kitchen table in front of him, but his mother just sighed while his father continued, oblivious. "You'll never set foot in that club ever again if I have anything to say about it!"

"What?"

"Don't you dare talk back to me. This is just the beginning. No more Asian Club, either. I want you straight home after football practice, every day." Mike swallowed hard. He felt sick to his stomach. "No more computer, no more car except to go to school and back, and now that you'll be spending no more time singing and dancing in that club after school, we can get started on your _real _career earlier on. You'll be learning how to properly sell cars now, like a _real _Chang. And whatever you've said to Tina, you will fix. I will not have you ruining your life because of your pride and a stupid hobby, Michael."

"That is _it_!" Mike shouted, getting to his feet and slamming his fists onto the table, causing both of his parents to jump in surprise. "I'm tired of you telling me what to do with my life. I love Glee Club, and I _don't _love Tina, not the way you want me to, and I love dancing. And dancing's what I'm going to do with my life, whether you like it or not, Father. It's _my _life, not yours. Selling cars might be what you do, and what _your _dad pushed you into doing when you were my age, but I'm not you, and I'm not going to let you decide my future because I was too afraid to stand up to you." He raised his eyes to meet his stunned father's, and finished. "Say what you want, but I'm going to be whatever the hell I want to be, and date whoever the hell I want to date. And there's nothing you can do or say to stop me. Not anymore."

* * *

><p><em>I don't need to be anything other<br>Than a prison guard's son  
>I don't need to be anything other<br>Than a specialist's son_

Mike gulped hard and tried not to screw up as he finished the first verse of the song he'd chose. Singing in front of everyone was even more frightening then he'd thought it'd be. He met Tina's eyes from the front of the room with trepidation, and she smiled back a little and gave him a thumbs up. He felt a little more relieved to know that even if they hadn't made up, she was at least supporting him.

_I don't have to be anyone other  
>Than the birth of two souls in one<br>Part of where I'm going, is knowing where I'm coming from_

Sam started up a slow clap to the beat of the song as the chorus began, and Finn and Brittany joined in along with Tina, and eventually the majority of the rest of the club followed, making Mike blush shyly as he sang.

_I don't want to be  
>Anything other than what I've been trying to be lately<br>All I have to do  
>Is think of me and I have peace of mind<br>I'm tired of looking 'round rooms  
>Wondering what I've got to do<br>Or who I'm supposed to be  
>I don't want to be anything other than me<em>

He finished up the song to clapping and cheering, then bowed humbly while Will moved to clap him on the back.

"Great job, Mike." He rose his voice as Mike straightened up with still-flushed cheeks, speaking to the rest of the club, "And that's how it's done, guys! We'll see who's next in a few weeks, and in the meantime, next week's assignment's going to be a tribute to…Frank Sinatra!"

The majority of the club groaned while quite a few people could be heard questioning, "Who's that?" to each other. Mike just sighed in relief, smiled, and then left to go retake his seat.

* * *

><p>"So how did things go with your dad?" Finn asked as he and Mike walked out to their cars together. "Bet he didn't take everything you said too well."<p>

"Yeah," Mike agreed, letting out a heavy breath. "He's not talking to me at the moment. Mom took it alright though and once she realized how passionate about dancing I am, she had a talk with my dad and softened him up a little bit to the point where he wouldn't, like, strangle me in my sleep. So I'm sure he'll come around eventually."

"That's great, man," Finn told him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "And Brittany? I saw you talking to her while we had our epic cake-fight."

"We're good. I'm over her anyway. We decided to be friends. It also kind of sounded like maybe she was really into someone else, actually."

"Ha, Brittany getting real feelings for someone? I doubt it, but whatever. As long as you guys are cool. Is Tina cool with you too?"

Mike pursed his lips, and then shrugged. "I don't know. It'll probably take a while, but I think we'll be good friends."

"Hey, I hear those Asian bonds are pretty hard to break."

"Oh yeah, we Asians definitely stick together."

Finn laughed and shook him by the shoulder as they walked. "Awesome, man. Awesome."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: That's the end of Mike; hope you guys who are reading enjoyed :)**

**If you want to know who's coming up next ahead of time, you can go to my profile where I've put up the link to the intro for episode 3. **


	7. Mercedes Part 1 of 3

**A/N: Hope you guys enjoy number 3 :)**

* * *

><p>"Mercedes!"<p>

The girl in question groaned into her pillow as Kurt shoved her again, trying to wake her. "C'mon, get up! You promised we'd go to the Lima Mall today." She grunted and shifted away from him, and Kurt clasped his hands together pleadingly even though she couldn't see him. "_Please_. If I don't buy something from Gucci's fall line by the end of this weekend I'll _die_."

"Kurt, it's Sunday morning," she finally replied, her voice muffled by the pillow. "This is the one time I'm guiltily allowing myself to skip church to sleep in. Ain't _no _way I'm waking up to go shopping with you."

"But you promised! And I've got everything planned out perfectly already: Blaine and Sam are due to meet us at-"

Mercedes sat up abruptly, cutting him off. "Wait, you invited _Blaine _and _Sam_?"

Kurt blinked at her. "Yes…I told you that last night over the phone, but obviously you weren't paying attention. Ever since I talked Sam into giving me Blaine's number we've been texting nonstop, and so I asked him if he'd like to go out shopping with us." He grinned. "I'm finally going to get to see him in person again! And since Sam's going to be there you won't feel like a third wheel."

"This is ridiculous." Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Why don't you two just go out on a real date instead of dragging me and Sam into it?"

"It isn't a date," Kurt insisted. "We're just going to browse a little, hopefully make a few fashionable purchases, and then get something to eat. All _four _of us." His smile dropped a little and he added quickly, "The only problem is my car was a little clunky getting over here…so I think we might have to take your-"

"Oh, _hell _to the no," Mercedes interjected, sticking a hand out in front of herself. "We are not using my dad's car, Kurt Hummel."

"How will he find out, anyway?" Kurt rationalized. "Both of your parents are gone for the week on their second honeymoon. They left you here alone for a _whole _week. Clearly they trust you."

"Yes, and they trust me because I don't do things like…oh, I don't know…_stealing their cars_," Mercedes retorted, getting to her feet and moving to open her closet. "I'll go, okay? But only if we take your car."

Kurt sighed, already digging his car keys out of his pocket. "If you say so. But if it breaks down in the middle of the highway and we die, it's your fault."

"I'll take full responsibility if that happens, Kurt."

* * *

><p>"So where did you say we were meeting them?"<p>

"I didn't; you interrupted me," Kurt reminded her as they wound their way through the crowded mall. His face fell suddenly. "Oh no."

Mercedes followed his gaze and was met with a perfect view of a grinning Rachel Berry, who had already spotted them and was waving at them excitedly. Behind her stood Finn, who smiled awkwardly with both of his hands shoved into his pockets. Rachel grabbed him by the arm and led him over to Kurt and Mercedes, who looked around for an escape route and could find none with the crowd so thick. "What a surprise! We didn't think we'd see anyone we knew here at this time of day, what with church and all," Rachel told them. "I myself told my two gay dads I felt under the weather in order to get them to leave without me. I plan on sneaking ten dollars into both their wallets later tonight to help alleviate my guilt for lying to them."

"You're a rebel," Kurt deadpanned.

"Oh, and Finn's here with me," Rachel continued hastily, pulling him forward until he was standing next to her. "I invited him out with me. Completely platonically of course, because he's dating Quinn and him cheating on her would be very, very wrong."

"Very wrong," Finn confirmed, nodding his agreement.

"Disgustingly wrong," Mercedes input.

"A horrible, betraying, inconsiderate, almost evil kind of wrong," Kurt finished, watching Finn and Rachel wince more and more with every word. An awkward silence followed, until Rachel straightened up and cleared her throat.

"Right, well…I guess we should be going, then. I believe there's a store down the other way that _only _sells headbands and knee-high socks."

"Really?" Kurt sipped at the smoothie he'd picked up at a store near the mall's entrance. "How fascinating."

"Yes, well, we really should-" Rachel tugged on Finn's hand and he followed willingly, looking visibly disturbed. "Bye!" she called back to them.

Both Kurt and Mercedes forced smiles and waved sarcastically, and Mercedes immediately rolled her eyes when they were gone. "I wonder when they're gonna realize that pretty much _all_ of us know about them by now."

"I have no idea. I'm just waiting to see who's gonna tell Quinn," Kurt replied. "Anyway, we're meeting Blaine and Sam just down this way; follow me."

He led her in the opposite direction that Rachel and Finn had gone in, until Mercedes spotted Sam and Blaine talking on a bench just outside an Abercrombie and Fitch store. "Hey!" Blaine called out, spotting them first and lighting up at the sight of Kurt. The two dark-haired boys stood in front of each other for a moment, laughed nervously, and then awkwardly leaned in and clapped each other on the back a few times as Sam stood up next to them and exchanged amused looks with Mercedes.

"Alright," Blaine spoke up. "Good to see you, Mercedes."

"You too," Mercedes agreed, mentally noting the positive lack of pink sunglasses. "Hi, Sam."

"Hello," he replied, waving hesitantly.

"Anyway," Kurt cut in, eager to avoid any awkwardness. "Mercedes and I were interested in a few articles from Gucci-"

"Ooh, good choice," Blaine agreed immediately. "Have you seen the stuff from their new fall line?"

"I know, right?"

Sam and Mercedes looked on as both boys set off down the hallway together, then glanced at each other uncomfortably. "Sooo…" Sam began eventually. "It doesn't look like they're going to be paying too much attention to us today."

"I doubt it," Mercedes agreed.

They stood together in silence for a moment, watching Blaine and Kurt obliviously leave them behind, and finally, Sam spoke up again. "Wanna go get some ice cream or something?"

After a moment of deliberation, Mercedes shrugged her shoulders. "Why not?"

* * *

><p>"Oh God." Sam nearly spit out a spoonful of ice cream, lifting a hand to cover his mouth while he snickered. "You guys totally guilt-tripped them. Bad."<p>

"I know, but they deserved it," Mercedes replied, grinning back at him in response. "I don't like Quinn but I really can't believe they're doing this to her. Nobody deserves that."

"You don't like Quinn?" Sam questioned curiously, his laughter dying. "Why not?"

"Well, you know…" Mercedes rolled her eyes. "She's your typical Queen Bee Head Cheerleader Prom Queen who owns the school and knows it."

"Quinn?" Sam's eyebrows furrow. "Wow. I kind of got the impression that was Santana. Quinn seemed kinda nice."

"No, Santana's just a bitch," Mercedes laughed out. "They both have the attitude, Quinn's just less obvious about it and was lucky enough to get the Head Cheerleader position. One screw-up from her and things could change, though. Lord knows Santana's waiting for it. I'm pretty sure she and Brittany are the only ones who don't know about Finn and Rachel, because if they did, Santana would tell Quinn just to watch her crash and burn and then she could be Head Cheerleader instead."

Sam looked slightly amused. "This all sounds very…stupidly high school."

"Welcome to McKinley," Mercedes said matter-of-factly.

"So…where do you fit into all of this?" Sam questioned. "I see your lunch table kind of has it pretty harsh. You guys have been getting slushied for weeks now."

Mercedes forced a laugh. "Try 'months', actually. We sat through it all last year, too."

"Why? Why don't you just stand up to Azimio and Karofsky?"

"Uh, I seem to recall them tossing you, Finn, Puck, _and _Mike into a dumpster at the beginning of this year," Mercedes reminded him. "If you four can't get them to stop, what makes you think the five school losers can?"

Sam sighed, poking at his ice cream. "…Okay, so maybe you can't stop them. But there has to be some way to end it. You could tell an adult."

"It's been done. That only makes it worse." Mercedes shrugged her shoulders. "It's not a big deal, anyway. We can handle it. It's just ice."

"Well, it sucks. I'm sorry you guys have to deal with that just for being in Glee Club." He smiled. "I do get now why it's worth it, though."

"Yeah, it is fun, isn't it? You're a pretty good singer, too; that rendition of 'I'm Yours' you did last week-"

"Are you kidding me; look at _you_," Sam interrupted. "You're, like, the best singer in the whole club."

"Nah, that's Rachel," Mercedes replied sheepishly. "That's pretty much common knowledge; it's why she gets the lead in most of the group numbers."

"Well, first of all, the leads in the group numbers should be split up more fairly anyway, and even when Rachel does sing lead, who do they send in to belt out the tough stuff at the end of every song anyway?" He grinned as Mercedes ducked her head shyly. "Yeah, I thought so."

"Hey, there you guys are!"

They both straightened up and turned their heads in the direction of Blaine's voice as he and Kurt came walking up to them. "We went and found this gorgeous scarf," Kurt gushed, holding up a plastic bag in his hand, "and when I turned to get your approval, Mercedes, we noticed you'd both left."

"You can't leave somewhere you never went, guys," Sam laughed out, watching as both boys only looked confused. "You both ditched us at the bench; we decided it'd just be better to leave you two alone for a while."

"Oh, well," Kurt replied hastily, shooting an embarrassed glance Blaine's way. "We didn't mean to get so caught up in…in-"

"Shopping," Blaine finished for him abruptly.

"Right," Kurt agreed.

"There's just so much stuff to buy," Blaine marveled, using an arm to gesture to the area around him. "It's distracting."

"Well, it _is _a mall," Sam pointed out while Mercedes covered her mouth to hide a smile. "One would assume you come here to, you know, buy stuff."

"Of course," Blaine confirmed. "So we should do that now."

"Yes, let's do some more shopping," Kurt added quickly. "At the mall. Because that's where we are and that's what tends to be done here. Um…hey Mercedes, come confirm how fabulous this scarf looks on me, okay?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her up away from Sam and Blaine, leading her into the nearest store, where she finally burst into laughter. "Oh, shut up," he retorted, smacking her arm. "Like _you_ weren't having fun at that table with _Sam_?"

"Kurt, in the about two months we've known him, this is my first time even having a real conversation with the boy."

"He is cute, though," Kurt told her, pulling out his scarf and wrapping it around his neck, then striking a pose. "I call it: Christmas chic."

"You're about two months early, then," Mercedes replied. "It's definitely your style, though."

"Great. I was a little nervous about buying it since it's my first purchase without having your approval first." He tucked the scarf away delicately. "But Blaine said it looked good on me so I had to."

"Of course you did," Mercedes said, amused. "When are you going to tell him you like him?"

"I don't know." Kurt sighed forlornly. "I've never been in a situation like this before." They both looked to where Sam and Blaine were still by the table, talking and laughing with each other. "Maybe I'll just wait to see if he says something. Assuming he's interested, of course."

"What if he never does?"

Kurt placed a hand on his chest and sniffed. "Then I guess I'll just die alone…"

Mercedes let out a laugh and rolled her eyes, then led him back out of the store.

* * *

><p>"It's one of those weeks, you guys!"<p>

The entire club groaned, and Will's smile faded. "What, is no one feeling the Self-Examination weeks?"

"I Self-Examine _every _week, if you know what I mean," Puck replied, making a rude gesture with one hand that had Will narrowing his eyes.

"My office after the meeting, Puck."

As the rest of the club laughed and "ooh"ed, Will placed the hat on the piano and went to the board, uncapping the marker in his hand on the way there. "This whole year-long assignment is all about learning lessons. Lessons about yourself, lessons about how the world works, and lessons about your life. So, I want to know more about what kind of life lessons you guys are already familiar with." He reached up and wrote across the board, "What's Your Favorite Life Lesson?"

"You mean, like, The Golden Rule and stuff?" Finn questioned, clearly confused.

"Good one, Finn," Will replied, pointing to him. "The Golden Rule is a perfect example. But there are plenty more out there. Think of it this way: what's something you think this whole club could benefit from knowing?" Puck opened his mouth and Will cut him off. "Nothing vulgar please, Puck. I want you guys leaving this club at the end of the year having learned something other than the lyrics to a few songs. So I'm going to pick a name out of this hat, and whoever's name comes out will come in as late as next Monday with a song that teaches a life lesson that you implement in your own life and would like to see your classmates implement into theirs as well. Drum roll please, Finn."

He rummaged around in the hat as Finn quickly patted on his knees, finally grabbing a slip of paper and lifting it out to unfold it. "This week's soloist is…Mercedes!"

The rest of the club clapped respectfully and Mercedes smiled, happy to have a solo for the week. "Now, on an unrelated note," Will continued, "I'd like to remind you guys that Sectionals are coming up soon. We should be prepared enough to win because our vocals are better than those of our competition, but I've noticed lately that you guys haven't quite seemed to click as a unit. I'd suggest spending more time together and doing a little team bonding."

"You can't be serious," Quinn muttered to herself.

"That's all for today; I'll see you all on Wednesday," Will finished, and everyone immediately stood up to leave. "Except for you, Puck; in my office."

"Damn it."

* * *

><p>"Hey there, Mercedes."<p>

Mercedes glanced to her right at the source of the greeting, then did a double-take when she saw Puck leaning against the locker next to hers. "Um…hi, Puck. What do you want?"

"Well, I was talking to Mr. Schue yesterday, and he said I should respect the club a little more and get more involved in his assignments. So I'm taking this whole 'club bonding' thing kind of seriously, as per Mr. Schue's wishes."

"Where is this going?" Mercedes replied disinterestedly, slamming her locker shut and turning to walk down the hall. Puck jogged to catch up and then walked alongside her.

"I heard your parents are gone all this week."

"Yeah, so?"

"So…your house will be empty this Friday night…with no parental supervision…"

Mercedes stopped, then turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh, if this is going where I think it's going, the answer is hell to the no."

"What if I could _promise _you that everything would be completely cleaned up by Saturday morning, everyone would be cleared out…your parents would have no idea that-"

"_No_, Puck. I'm not letting you trash my house."

"But Mercedes, it's for the good of the club. A club that drinks together, stays together."

"Not at my house, it doesn't," Mercedes retorted, walking away from him without another word.

* * *

><p>"Mercedes, I was thinking Friday night since your parents won't be home-"<p>

"Not you too," she cut Kurt off, looking over at him from her usual spot at their lunch table. "I'm not letting anyone throw a party, alright?"

Kurt looked taken aback. "Who said anything about a party? I was thinking we should have a giant sleepover, with all the girls. It would be a ton of fun; we could do makeup, hair, bake cookies and brownies…and with all the girls from glee club there you'd definitely have some more people to bounce around ideas with for your solo. Plus, I could invite Blaine over, too."

"That actually surprisingly sounds like a lot of fun," Tina agreed, smiling over at them. "I'd be down with that."

"So would I," Rachel piped up hopefully, grinning at them. "I've never been to a real sleepover before."

Mercedes exchanged nervous looks with Kurt. "Uh…are you sure you'd wanna go, Rachel? If Brittany, Santana, and Quinn all come-"

"Oh, I'm sure we could call a one-night truce," Rachel waved her objection away, still smiling. "This is so exciting! My two gay dads will be so proud of me for finally finding someone to bond and spend time with overnight. I can already imagine how shocked they'll be when I tell them I'll be sleeping in a bed other than my own, and in a completely non-sexual way!"

Tina, Kurt, and Mercedes all blinked at her, and Mercedes finally commented, "_Thanks_, Kurt, for your wonderful sleepover idea."

Kurt just smiled back sheepishly, and Artie looked to the other half of the glee club across the lunchroom with a longing sigh. "I wonder if Sam, Puck, Finn, and Mike would be up for a guys' sleepover as well."

* * *

><p>"Hey." Mercedes forced a small smile onto her face as Quinn, Brittany, and Santana all simultaneously turned away from their lockers to face her. She handed them each a small card containing her address, a date, and a time. "It was Kurt's idea. He thinks all the girls should have a sleepover at my house Friday night to get Mr. Schue off our backs about the bonding thing. My parents are gone for the week so it'll be just us."<p>

"No parental supervision?" Santana questioned, a smirk already forming on her lips.

"Will there be alcohol?" Brittany chimed in hopefully.

Mercedes considered that for a moment. On the one hand, alcohol was probably a really bad idea, but on the other hand, maybe if the three girls ended up drunk they'd pass out and leave her, Tina, and Kurt alone. Maybe Rachel would even end up drinking some on accident too and she'd be out of their hair as well. "…If you bring it, there will be," she finally settled on.

Brittany and Santana exchanged grins. "Done."

Quinn didn't look convinced, however. "Why are you inviting us?"

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "Because the whole club is supposed to bond and so I'm inviting everyone who I think would be appropriate to allow to sleep over. Plus I need ideas for what life lesson to sing about and you three look like you'd be the perfect club members to sing them to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Santana retorted, crossing her arms.

"Look," Mercedes finished, ignoring her. "If you want a place to stay for a night with nobody breathing down your necks and all the alcohol you want to drink, then come. If not, stay home, okay?"

Quinn thought about it for a moment. "Will Rachel be there?"

Mercedes raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

Immediately, the three girls exchanged amused looks. "Okay. We're in."

* * *

><p>"I think Puck's stolen your sleepover idea," Sam told her the next day, catching up to her on her way to her second period.<p>

She looked surprised to see him talking to her for a moment, but recovered quickly. "Well, technically it was Kurt's idea, but what makes you say that?"

"He's got all the guys meeting up at his house Friday night, according to Finn. Even Artie."

"Wait...meeting up there or spending the night?"

"Uh…I'm not sure. This is, like, third-hand information. But I think Finn just said we were meeting up. I kind of assumed from there that we'd be hanging out at his place, though."

"Unless he's planning on crashing the sleepover at mine," Mercedes pointed out. "I already told him no party with my parents gone."

"Well, if he tries anything, I promise to sabotage it, alright?" Sam replied jokingly, holding out his hand for a handshake.

"And in return?" Mercedes questioned curiously, not taking his hand.

"Hmm…" Sam thought for a moment. "Come to one of my football games? There's one this weekend on Saturday; it's kind of an off week."

"I already do, actually," she told him. "Tina used to always drag me to them for Mike every week, and now it's just out of habit."

"Okay, so…come to one to see me, then," he suggested, still holding out his hand.

Mercedes stared at him for a moment, then smiled in response and gripped his hand with hers. "Deal."

* * *

><p>"Chips?"<p>

"Check."

"Candy?"

"Check."

"Soda?"

Kurt laughed. "Check, but I'm not sure we'll need it."

Mercedes rolled her eyes. "I'm staying sober. I have to make sure you all don't end up wrecking my house. And the smirks Puck's been giving me all week sure make it seem like something's going to be broken by the end of the night."

"I thought you had Sir Sam on party-crashing alert?" Kurt pointed out, smirking at her himself.

"C'mon, Kurt," Mercedes replied, exasperated. "He's just being nice."

"Just like he was being nice when he carried your books today?"

"You're forgetting that this was right after he saw Karofsky knock them out of my hands."

"You just don't know how to tell when a guy likes you," he told her. "It's your lack of experience."

"You're one to talk," she retorted just as the doorbell rang. Kurt bent down to pull open a bag of chips, and Mercedes went to go get the door.

Tina was on the other side, a bag of cookie mix in one hand and a bottle of grape soda in the other. "Excellent choices, girl," Mercedes greeted her as she opened the door fully to let Tina inside.

"I think Blaine's just behind me," she warned before Mercedes could close it again. "A car I didn't recognize pulled up into the driveway as I was ringing the doorbell."

She disappeared into the house to go join Kurt, and, sure enough, Blaine came walking up the small pathway to the front porch just a moment later, greeting Mercedes with a smile when he saw her.

"Is that, uh, Kurt's car I saw back there in the driveway?" he tried to question innocently. Mercedes just suppressed a smile and nodded.

"He's already inside; you can go on in."

She'd just shut the door and made her way back into the living room when the doorbell rang again. This time, it was Rachel, rolling an entire suitcase behind her and carrying an armful of what looked to be stuffed animals. "I have several metaphorical security blankets," she said in explanation while a stunned Mercedes stepped out of the way to let her in. "Also my two gay dads have advised me to call them should anyone partake in anything at this party that makes me feel uncomfortable. However I suspect that won't be a problem considering Brittany and Santana are the only suspect people attending and I hear they tend to keep to themselves when-"

"Relax, Rachel," Mercedes advised her, ushering her in towards the living room. "My bedroom is upstairs, second door on the left. You can put your stuff in there."

"Thank you."

Tina let out a sigh the second Rachel was gone. "I was hoping she'd get sick or forget to show up or something."

"Why, what's wrong with her?" Blaine questioned Tina, holding out his hand. "I'm Blaine, by the way."

"Yes, I'm Tina; Kurt never shuts up about you," Tina replied quickly, not noticing the way Kurt's cheeks immediately reddened. "She's just loud…and bossy…"

"And weird," Kurt recovered enough to throw in. "And possibly crazy."

"Actually I'm pretty sure she is crazy," Mercedes corrected. "But those of us in glee club have to stick together, so…"

The doorbell rang again, and Tina's smile dropped. "Here come the only club members worse than Rachel…" she mumbled as Mercedes went back to the door.

"What do you mean by that?" she heard from Blaine in the living room as she pulled the door open to see Quinn, Brittany, and Santana standing in their usual triangular formation. A noticeable difference this time, however, was that Brittany and Santana's arms were full of what looked to be beer, vodka, and several other indistinguishable bottles that Mercedes wasn't sure she wanted to know the contents of.

"Keep that stuff to yourselves, alright? We're not at a bar tonight," she advised them as they stepped inside and looked around. Santana and Brittany went to go set their drinks on a nearby counter, and Quinn folded her arms across her chest and sighed.

"So what's first: are we going to gossip about boys, bake cookies, or braid each other's hair?"

"Don't worry, Quinn: No matter what we do, I'm sure you'll find a way to make everyone miserable," Mercedes replied.

Quinn just smiled sarcastically in response.


	8. Mercedes Part 2 of 3

The whole group watched in stunned silence as Santana tilted her head back, raised a bottle of beer to her lips, and began to chug it down with an expertise that revealed she definitely was no stranger to drinking in heavy doses. Next to her, Quinn looked particularly impressed, and yet simultaneously disgusted, and on Quinn's other side, Rachel was already furiously pressing keys on her cell phone until Kurt rolled his eyes and snatched it out of her hand.

"Hey!"

"Relax, Rachel. Nobody's going to make you do anything you don't want to do," he told her with a sigh, holding down a button on her phone until it turned off, and then handing it back to her.

Santana smacked her lips and let out a pleasant sigh as she finished off the bottle, then set it down in the middle of the circle they'd all formed on the floor. "Okay, who's spinning first?"

"I will!" Brittany offered, leaning forward and spinning the bottle excitedly. It spun for a good ten seconds before landing on Tina, who swallowed nervously in response. Grinning, Brittany immediately crawled towards Tina on her hands and knees, barely getting her lips puckered before Santana angrily pulled her back to her spot in the circle.

"Jesus Christ, Britt, we said we're playing the 'Truth or Dare' version, remember?"

"Oops." Brittany giggled. "I think I'm already a little drunk."

"This is ridiculous; Tina, truth or dare?" Kurt cut in abruptly.

"Um…truth?"

"What's Mike like in bed?" Brittany offered before Kurt could ask a question. "I've been wondering. He's like the only guy I'll probably never sleep with now other than Kurt and new kid Blaine Warbler because they're both capital G gay."

Tina's cheeks immediately colored and Rachel furrowed her eyebrows, explaining, "Brittany, you can't just ask people if their ex-boyfriends are good in bed. That's too personal."

"Why not? _I'm_ fine with telling everyone how good _San_-"

"Heeeeeeeey!" Kurt interrupted overly cheerfully while Santana turned a unique shade of red so dark it almost looked purple. "How about we just move on and Tina spins now?"

"Fine with me," Mercedes muttered dully, an elbow on the knee of one of her crossed legs and her hand resting on her chin.

"Blaine!" Tina said cheerfully when the bottle stopped on him. He shifted nervously as she questioned, "Truth or dare?"

"Hmm…" He looked to Kurt quickly, then smiled and rubbed his hands together. "Why don't I take a dare; make things more interesting?"

"Alright…" Tina thought for a moment. "I dare you to…take a shot of the stuff in _that _bottle." She pointed to a bottle of clear liquid resting on the nearby counter.

"What is it? Vodka?" Blaine questioned nervously, furrowing his eyebrows. Beside him, Rachel looked like she was considering making a run for the front door.

"Are we sure this is allowed?" she asked carefully.

"Of course it's not allowed," Santana laughed out. "It _is_ vodka, by the way."

Blaine sighed and got to his feet, heading for the counter and examining the bottle curiously. "…Alright. This doesn't look like it'll be too bad."

* * *

><p>Mercedes watched with disbelief from her spot on her living room couch while Brittany, Quinn, Santana, Blaine, Kurt, and Tina all jumped up and down and waved their arms around wildly to the beat of some song blaring from the stereo in the corner in what she suspected was supposed to be some form of drunken dancing. Rachel was beside her on the couch, her knees bent and pressed against her front while her arms were wrapped around her legs. Mercedes half-expected her to start rocking back and forth sometime soon.<p>

Brittany went to go turn up the music and Santana yelled something about Lima Heights that Mercedes couldn't hear over the sound of the music, but whatever it was earned a whoop from Tina, who clinked her bottle of beer against the one in Santana's hand and then drank the rest of it down in a few gulps.

Quinn, in contrast, seemed to be a quieter while buzzed and was moving the least out of the entire group, her hair plastered to her face in the front, shielding her expression from view. With the exception of her, Mercedes suspected the entire group was bound to pass out soon. Her biggest regret was that they hadn't even gotten a chance to bake those cookies.

"Is this going to end soon?" Rachel questioned nervously. "I can handle that club you all like to go to as long as I don't spend too much time with drunken people, and as much as I appreciate Artie making me a fake ID, I've yet to try any alcohol and I prefer to keep it that way."

"They'll pass out eventually," Mercedes assured her. "Brittany already looks unsteady and I know Kurt has a low tolerance. Blaine isn't looking too good either."

Blaine, as a matter of fact, was digging through his pockets at that very moment, trying to find what Mercedes soon realized was his cell phone. He squinted down at it for a few seconds, then stumbled over to Mercedes, handing it over to her with the explanation, "I can't read what it says but I think your name's in there somewhere."

Mercedes glanced at him, confused, then looked down at the phone. It was a text from Sam that read, _"Tell Mercedes she was right about Puck. I let the air out of one of his tires but he had a spare. Boys are coming to crash. I will try to stall some more but I don't think I can do it for much longer."_

"Shit," Mercedes cursed, handing Blaine his phone back and getting to her feet to go turn the music off.

"Hey!" Santana exclaimed, turning to glare at her, but Mercedes glared right back.

"Listen up, the guys are on their way and if they get in who knows what Puck will do and who else he'll end up inviting over here. We need to hide the alcohol just in case, lock all the doors, and check the windows to make sure they don't find some other way in." She sighed to herself, then moved to the counter to grab a few bottles. "Puck just _has _to try and ruin my party…"

"In case you haven't noticed, Puck ruins everything," Quinn pointed out, joining her at the counter. "He can't help it; it's just a natural instinct of his."

"Ain't that the truth," Mercedes muttered. "Brittany, Santana, can you guys go lock all the doors?"

They both moved to follow her orders, and only just barely got the front door locked before a tap came from the other side. Santana squinted through the glass. "Puck's here."

"Hurry up and get the other doors; there's a back and a side one, too," Mercedes called to them, leaving the bottles up to the others and heading towards the front door to meet Puck. He grinned at her and waved from the other side, then held up a six-pack of beer in one hand and pointed at it suggestively. Mercedes rolled her eyes and shook her head, then turned away to help see to the rest of the alcohol. Once it was all put away, she continued, "Alright, there are a lot of windows and I'm not sure how many are locked, so Kurt and Blaine, you guys check everything in _that _direction on this floor. Quinn, there are a couple of rooms in the other direction; could you go check those? And Rachel, you do the upstairs bedrooms."

"What about me?" Tina questioned curiously.

"You keep me company here," Mercedes sighed out, collapsing back on the couch. "This is not going the way I hoped it'd go."

"Side and back door have been locked," Santana announced, arriving back in the living room with Brittany and looking around. "Where'd everyone else go?"

"To check the windows." Another knock on the front door caught their attention and Mercedes sat up with a groan. "I already told Puck he-…oh." This time, it was Sam, Artie, and Mike on the other side. Hesitantly, Mercedes opened the door a crack.

"Hey," Sam whispered. "Sorry, we tried to talk Finn and Puck out of it but Puck wanted to crash and Finn wanted to see Rachel."

"There really wasn't any stopping them," Artie agreed.

"If you want, we could help you from the inside until Puck gives up," Mike suggested. "Then we'll go home as well."

"Good idea," Mercedes agreed, opening the door wider to let Sam in. Artie rolled in behind him, and Mike was about to enter as well when Tina caught sight of Mercedes letting him in.

"Hey, what are you doing? Don't let him in!" she protested immediately, crossing her arms and glaring.

"Sorry, Mike," Mercedes said hastily, giving him a light push back outside. "Tina still doesn't want to see you."

"What the-?"

She shut the door on him and locked it hastily, then turned around to face the boys she'd let inside. "Okay, so where did Finn and Puck go?"

"Puck's looking for other doors, and Finn…" Sam trailed off uncertainly. "I'm not exactly sure where Finn went, actually."

* * *

><p>Rachel was just about to check the last window in the upstairs master bedroom when a light tap on one she'd just locked caught her attention and nearly made her jump out of her skin. She spun around abruptly and stared in the direction of the noise, just barely making out a shadow outside of the window. Her eyes widened and she mouthed, "Finn?"<p>

As she approached the window it became clearer that it was in fact Finn crouching on the roof. Rachel unlocked the window and pushed it open incredulously, leaving the screen still separating them. "Finn, what on earth are you doing?"

"I came to see you," Finn told her proudly. "Puck wanted to come here anyway and so I figured it was the perfect opportunity." He eyed the screen carefully and questioned, "Can you get this out of the way?"

Rachel glanced over her shoulder nervously, thinking about it for a moment while Finn stared at her hopefully. Finally, she relented with a sigh. "Oh, alright. Just give me a second."

* * *

><p>"Well, that was easy." The entire group in the living room spun around as Puck trudged in with his hands in his pockets, an uncertain-looking Mike trailing in behind him, much to Tina's chagrin. "The back door wasn't even locked."<p>

The focus went to Santana and Brittany at that, the former of which shrugged her shoulders half-heartedly. "What can I say? I like a good party."

Mercedes resisted the urge to clap a hand to her forehead. "Puck, I already told you; you _can't _have a party here."

"It's a little too late for that, Mercedes," Puck told her smugly, holding up his cell phone. "You can't exactly fight off the entire school with a couple of locked doors."

"I hate you," she told him blatantly.

Quinn glanced around them, seemingly uninterested in the exchange, but she straightened up abruptly when she realized who had yet to arrive. "Hey, where did Finn and Man-Hands go?"

* * *

><p>Rachel fell back onto the queen-sized bed in the room as Finn collapsed on top of her, their lips pressed together and Finn's hands halfway up her shirt by now. "Finn, wait," she told him between kisses, managing to push him away enough to look him in the eyes. "I think we should talk."<p>

"About what?" he muttered, moving to kiss her neck.

"Quinn," she forced out. "I've been thinking and I'm not sure…" she paused for a moment, distracted, then pushed him away from her again. "Stop for a second, Finn. I'm not sure I'm comfortable doing this behind her back anymore. I don't like being the other woman and I'm tired of being your dirty little secret. You love me, not Quinn, and I want everyone to know that. Regardless of our different social statuses I really think-"

"Rachel…" Finn groaned out, covering his face with one hand before letting it slide down to rest on the bed's comforter. "We talked about this. I'm going to break up with her soon."

"You said that over two months ago, Finn," Rachel replied quietly. "And I'm sorry, but Kurt and Mercedes were right about what they said earlier this week. Cheating's wrong. If you want to be with me, first you have to stop being with her, alright?" She cupped his cheek and leaned forward to press a light kiss to his lips, then pulled away and left the room, leaving him sitting on the bed alone.

"Hey, we were just wondering where you and your friend were," Blaine told her when she entered the living room to see everyone else already gathered there. She forced a laugh nervously.

"Yes, well…I found him. He was on the roof, trying to climb in through one of the windows."

"What the fuck?" Puck muttered aloud as Finn finally made his way into the living room. With all eyes on him now, he waved awkwardly and forced a smile, trying to hide his disappointment with what had just happened in the other room.

"So, um...is the whole party thing gonna happen, or not?"

Mercedes looked like she might throw up or pass out just from sheer anxiety, and Puck flashed his cell phone again. "What do you think, dude?"

* * *

><p>Mercedes banged on the door to her parents' bedroom as hard as she could, shouting out over the sound of the music booming from the living room. "Hey! Open up!" She jiggled the doorknob again and the door swung open a minute later to reveal an aggravated-looking boy she recognized from one of her classes.<p>

"Give us a second, alright?" he demanded, then slammed the door in her face again. Mercedes groaned as two boys ran past her tossing an empty beer bottle, and she heard glass shatter a moment after she took her eyes off of them.

Groaning again as she pictured the mess she's no doubt have to clean up in the morning, she shoved her way back down the hallway, calling out, "Puck! Puck! If you're in here with some slutty white girl I swear I'll-" She stopped talking as she reached the door to her own bedroom and pushed it open midsentence, peeking in just in time to see Santana gasp and accidentally roll off of Brittany _and_ the bed, out of Mercedes' view, while a shirtless Brittany sat up and looked around cluelessly from her spot near the pillows. Mercedes stared back at her for a moment, blinked once, and then backed away and shut the door behind herself, heading further down the hallway once it was closed and descending down the stairs to the living room. "Puck! _Pu-!_"

"Hey," he cut her off, surprising her from behind, one beer bottle clasped in one hand. "What gives; you're freaking people out. Unless your house is on fire or the cops are coming you need to chill."

"What _gives _is that there are a hundred people in my house that shouldn't be here," Mercedes growled. "I might not have been able to stop _them _getting _in, _but you can be damn sure I can stop _you _from getting _out_, and unless you want to end up preserved in a jar in my base-"

"Yo, Hummel! Get your girl under control here!"

Mercedes swung her head around to look over at Kurt, who managed to tear himself away from Blaine mid-dance long enough to catch the beckoning gesture Puck gave him following his shout. Mercedes fumed as Puck ignored her to address her best friend. "Look, would you tell her to get a grip and let loose for once? We're all here to have fun, and I'm gonna come help clean it up in the morning." Puck furrowed his eyes at Kurt when he didn't get a response immediately, then waved his hand and watched Kurt squint and blink. He laughed. "See, Mercedes, even Kurt's pretty buzzed, and he's wisely using this time to get some action." He gestured towards where Blaine was still dancing. "Why don't you follow his example?" Mercedes glared at him as he nudged her suggestively. "If you want, I could help you out with that…hey!"

He watched her leave and sighed with a disappointed shrug, then lifted his bottle to his lips and turned away to go find someone else to hit on.

Mercedes, meanwhile, had already left Kurt behind as well and was pushing her way through the crowd to get to the phone in the kitchen. Puck's cop mention had given her an idea and she was ready to put her new plan into action.

"Rachel!"

She was nearly knocked over by a determined Rachel pushing her way past Mercedes to get to the front door, and then again by Finn, who was close behind and calling after her. Sighing loudly and shaking her head as she watched Finn chase Rachel out through the front door, she finally made her way past the thickest part of the crowd, reaching and grabbing the telephone just as a sob from a nearby couch caught her eye.

"I just don't understand why he's always so focused on her," Quinn was complaining tearfully while Sam awkwardly patted her back from his spot beside her on the couch. "She's not anywhere near as pretty as me. Or as popular. He's _my _boyfriend and I don't even like her so he should hate her just as much as I do, right?"

Sam gave a non-committal grunt and caught Mercedes' eye, shooting her a pleading look and gesturing to Quinn as the Head Cheerio let out another sob. Grudgingly, Mercedes put down the phone and made her way over to them. "First of all, you should probably take this from her," she suggested, plucking a drink from Quinn's hand and setting it down on the coffee table. "We can take her up to my room."

"Good idea."

They each helped Quinn up by one arm and led her to the stairs while tears continued to run down her cheeks. "You guys are so sweet. Finn would never do this for me. I mean, who would look twice at p-pretty, p-popular Cheerio Quinn when there's a stupid girl with m-man hands to stare at, huh?"

Mercedes rolled her eyes and handed Quinn over to Sam when they reached the door to her bedroom. This time, she banged on it loudly, taking the time to wait for the sound of hurried footsteps inside the room to die down before warning, "We're coming in!"

The door swung open before she could reach for the knob, and Santana glared out at them angrily. "What do you want?"

"Quinn's freaking out about Finn and Rachel and she needs to lie down," Mercedes replied, pushing past her and into the room, where Brittany was standing by the bed and discreetly trying to examine her own neck. Sam watched her tilt her head into several awkward positions for a moment, clearly amused.

"What about Finn and Rachel?" Santana questioned apprehensively.

Mercedes shushed her without an explanation as Sam helped Quinn onto the bed and Mercedes adjusted the covers so that Quinn could slip under them. "I'll explain later. Just fix what you started and help get everyone out of my house." She straightened up and looked to Santana. "Assuming you and Brittany are done painting each other's nails and talking about boys in here?"

"Fuck you." Santana rolled her eyes, already tugging on Brittany's hand. "Come on, Brit. Relax," she addressed Mercedes on her way out. "If you're that desperate to ruin everyone's fun, we can offer Puck sex to get him to make them all leave. I'm sure he'll go for it."

"Right…" Mercedes watched them go with an eye roll of her own and then faced Sam again, who was watching Quinn fall asleep with his hands shoved into his pockets. "Thanks for the help, Sam."

"No problem." They both watched Quinn for a moment until he sighed. "Wow. I can't believe I thought I liked her back when I first moved here. She's a total wreck." Mercedes raised an eyebrow at him for a moment, and then they stood together silently with a passed-out Quinn for another few seconds, until Mercedes sighed this time.

"Well I guess being popular is harder than it looks."

* * *

><p>"Rachel!"<p>

Finn groaned and upped his pace when he saw Rachel only begin power-walking even more quickly away from him down the middle of the street.

"Rachel!"

"What?" She finally spun around angrily, facing him as she shouted. "I told you already, Finn! We have to stop this! I don't understand why it's so hard for you to just end it with her or end it with me! And I've just been bottling it up and my two gay dads _told _me it was unhealthy to bottle up strong feelings, but did I listen? No, and look where I am now, dramatically screaming at you in the middle of the road while our friends are probably drunk and doing… irresponsible things I don't care to be a part of. So goodbye, Finn." She pointedly turned to leave but he darted forward and caught her arm hastily.

"Wait, Rachel." She faced him again with her arms crossed while he carefully held her in place. "Can't you just give me another week?"

"I've given you several weeks," she muttered, pouting. "And as much as I love the drama of this situation, I'm not dumping you, you know. Not permanently. I can wait for you to break up with Quinn, but if you're not going to be with me I certainly no longer want this 'half-taken' status you've forced me into. If I find someone who's interested in me who I like back, I'm not going to say no and continue to wait for you to work up the courage to give up a girl you're only dating to boost your popularity." Finn opened his mouth to protest but she gave him a knowing look. "Don't lie, Finn. There's more sexual tension between…_Brittany _and _Santana _than there is between you and Quinn. If you're going to date her, you should at least give her the courtesy of actually _liking _her."

"I do like her," Finn said weakly. "She's…you know, she's nice."

"Well, I hope she's worth it, because… for now, I'm going to move on." She hesitated, then pulled away from him slowly. "As much as I'd love to walk away into the night now, I think you should find Puck and the other boys and leave with them now. All my stuff is in Mercedes' house so I'll have to head back there. It seems everyone else is beginning to leave, anyway." She nodded over his shoulder and Finn turned to see the large crowd slowly fanning out from the front door and being directed towards their cars by Artie and a drunken-looking Puck.

Rachel pushed past him suddenly and hurried to the front door without looking back, while Tina held it open and Mike stood out on the doorstep, facing her. Rachel ducked back into the house just as Mike finished an apparently hostile conversation with, "You _still _haven't forgiven me?", only to have Tina slam the door in his face and lock it afterward.

Both she and Rachel headed into the living room together, where Kurt and Blaine were passed out on the couch with their bodies half on top of each other and Mercedes was saying goodbye to Sam.

"I'll head out through the back door," Sam told her, pointing over his shoulder. "Hey, we're still on for tomorrow, right? Refreshments are totally on me and I bet I could even get you in for free, too."

Mercedes smiled in response. "I'll be there."

"Awesome." He waved goodbye to the three of them before leaving the room. A door opened and then slammed shut a moment later.

"Was that a date I just heard about?" Tina immediately teased. Mercedes only rolled her eyes in response and glanced to Kurt and Blaine.

"Whatever it is, I hope it goes better than tonight's sleepover," she replied. "Kurt and Blaine are out of it, my house is trashed, Quinn's passed out in my bed, and I don't even want to know what Santana and Brittany are up to."

"Oh, shut up; we're right here," Santana cut in from the kitchen, standing up straight so she was visible above the counter. Brittany popped up a moment later, clutching two full bottles of vodka in her hands. "We were making sure the party didn't cause an alcohol shortage."

"You two have a problem," Mercedes shot back.

"Gonna sing us a song about the dangers of drinking on Monday?" Santana smirked, uncorking a bottle and lifting it to her lips while Brittany suppressed a smile beside her. Santana cringed a little as she swallowed and then set the bottle back down on the counter. "So what are we doing now?"

"How about going to bed?" Tina mumbled, seating herself carefully next to Kurt and Blaine and resting her head on a couch cushion. "Quinn, Blaine, and Kurt had the right idea, drunk or not."

"Ugh, you guys are such losers. Whatever." Santana rolled her eyes. "Britt and I totally get the master bedroom."

"Isn't that the room with the small couch in the corner?" Rachel piped up. "Mercedes, I'd be happy to sleep there for the night so as not to disturb Quinn in your room or Kurt and Blaine in here."

"Yeah, no," Santana shot down with a shake of her head. "We're not sharing a room with her."

"Well, the only other room is the guest room, and that one has a single bed and a decent-sized chair that someone could probably sleep on," Mercedes told them.

"I've slept on that chair before," Tina reminded her. "You can have the bed, and then Rachel can share the room with Brittany and Santana."

"Sounds good to me," Rachel agreed, shooting a smile the two cheerleaders' way. Brittany smiled back and Santana simply glared, crossing her arms. Mercedes, meanwhile, eyed the mess around them.

"Alright, you guys go ahead. I'm gonna get a head start on the cleaning. Then we can finish the rest up tomorrow morning before the football game."

* * *

><p>Mercedes sighed quietly as she bent down to pick up the last beer bottle remaining on the living area floor. She'd already fixed up the dining room and the den enough that they'd be passable when her parents finally came home, but there was still the entire second floor to deal with, not to mention the kitchen and the breakfast area.<p>

She set the garbage bag in her hand aside once the bottle was safety inside it, then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and sat down at the kitchen counter on a stool to take a break. When she listened carefully she could hear soft creaking sounds coming from upstairs, and a second later the source of them was revealed to be Quinn, who appeared on the stairs looking groggy and… well, hung-over. She took one look at the water in Mercedes' hands and immediately continued her trek down the stairs and over to the refrigerator.

Once Quinn had a bottle of water safely opened, she glanced towards the unconscious Kurt and Blaine on the couch and then joined Mercedes at the counter, pulling out a second stool.

"Feeling any better?" Mercedes offered, trying to be polite.

"No," Quinn mumbled, rubbing at her temple with one hand while using the other to bring the water bottle to her lips. She took a sip and then pulled a face, before abruptly turning to Mercedes. "Where are Finn and Rachel?"

"Relax. Rachel's asleep upstairs. Finn left a while ago when I convinced Santana to help me pull the plug on the party." Mercedes rolled her eyes to herself while Quinn's gaze returned to the water bottle. After a moment, the smaller girl sighed.

"I know you think it's stupid. But someone like you would never understand."

Mercedes raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? Someone like _me_?"

"Well…" Quinn let out an annoyed sigh. "You've never had a boyfriend, and you've never had the pressure of being popular. You don't know what it's like."

"Oh, and you think getting slushies tossed on you every day would be easier?" Mercedes defended. "I _know _you better not be trying to play the victim right now. High school sucks for everyone."

"At least you're a loser because of who you really are," Quinn mumbled, missing the incredulous look Mercedes shot her at that. "I'm loved for being fake. It's like I wear a mask to school every day. And even with all the work I put in, someone like _Rachel Berry_ is who I have to deal with? I could understand fighting Santana for Finn; in fact, I'd practically expect it, and then gladly beat her down with my superior looks and popularity. But possibly losing out to someone like Rachel…"

"Why don't you just try being yourself?" Mercedes suggested with a sigh. "At least that's one thing Rachel's got down. Maybe what attracts Finn to her is how real she is."

"Whatever," Quinn replied, getting off of the stool with her water and slowly heading back to the stairs. "At least he isn't cheating on me with her yet." She disappeared up the stairs while Mercedes slowly shook her head in disbelief.

Once she was alone in the kitchen, she finished up her own bottle of water and mulled the short conversation with Quinn over in her head again, until a light bulb went off in her head.

She had a song for her assignment.


	9. Mercedes Part 3 of 3

"Aren't you gonna get in trouble for this?" Mercedes laughed out as Sam handed her a two-dollar hotdog he'd just finished purchasing for her at a concession stand near the packed bleachers next to the football field. Down on the field itself, the Cheerios could be seen already warming up for the game, and both football teams on the field were running passing drills and getting warmed up. Sam himself was in his uniform but had skipped the warm-up to show Mercedes to a front-row seat and buy her something to eat.

"Maybe. But I invited you, so I'm dedicated to making sure you're comfortable," Sam concluded, grinning at her as they walked towards the bleachers together. "Besides, Puck never does warm-ups; he's usually behind the bleachers with some girl until two minutes before the game. Looks like this week, it's… whoa."

He paused, looking to the space behind the bleachers with wide eyes. Mercedes followed his gaze and looked taken aback. "Is that Rachel?"

Sure enough, Puck had Rachel leaned up against the edge of the bleachers, one of his arms pressed to the metal beside her head as he hovered over her, whispering something into her ear. She laughed lightly and Sam's eyebrows went higher. "So on a scale of one to ten, how pissed do you think Finn'll be?"

"Eleven," Mercedes concluded, taking a bite out of her hotdog. "You know, I don't understand girls at this school; they all let guys take advantage of them. Maybe McKinley's just experiencing a douchebag overload all of a sudden. If Quinn or Rachel actually had a guy show them respect, they wouldn't waste their time with two-timing guys like Finn or players like Puck."

"Yeah," Sam sighed out. "I mean, I try to be nice to girls, but I don't think a lot of them go for that. Even Mike had to act like a jerk to get Tina, from what I've heard. Helping her cheat on Artie and all."

"It's all just a popularity contest," Mercedes assured him. "And you're just new. Once everyone gets used to you, girls will be lining up to date you. I mean, you're actually cute _and_ nice." She smiled at him and then proceeded towards the bleachers while Sam stared after her.

"…Wait, you think I'm cute?"

* * *

><p>Mercedes took a seat between Tina and Kurt just as the coin-toss was being held on the field. Mike, Puck, and Finn were team captains but Puck, as usual, was missing from the toss, leaving Finn and Mike with the responsibility of calling it. Tina scowled at the field as Mercedes and Kurt watched her with amusement.<p>

"Hoping they get it wrong?" Kurt guessed wisely.

"Hoping he face-plants on the kick return," Tina retorted, her eyes not leaving the field as she took a sip of the drink in her hand.

"You're gonna have to forgive him eventually," Mercedes reminded her while Kurt nodded his agreement beside her. "You know he's sorry."

"Of course _you two _can say that," Tina argued. "Kurt spent all night last night with _Blaine_, and Sam not only helped us clean up this morning, he also paid for your ticket and food, Mercedes. You guys actually have someone interested in you."

"We're _not _together," Mercedes argued with a laugh. "I don't know why everyone keeps acting like we are."

"Neither are Blaine and I," Kurt pointed out. "And I don't remember much of anything from last night."

"You woke up on top of him," Tina reminded him, earning a blush in response. "You two might as well be a couple by now. And don't even get me started on Ms. Thing over here, trying to act like there's nothing going on between her and Sam. I saw you two last night; he likes you."

"You don't know that," Mercedes replied quietly, turning to watch as the other team kicked the ball off to Mike and the game began. Beside the field, the Cheerios were pumping up the crowd and Quinn looked to be searching the stands for someone. "I wonder if _she's _the one who put Puck up to flirting with Rachel," Mercedes guessed, trying to change the subject.

"Wait, did you just say _Puck and Rachel_?" Kurt questioned, taking the bait.

"Yes, Sam pointed them out to me. Apparently Puck has a different pre-game hookup each week and this time it was Rachel."

"They were hooking up?" Tina asked with furrowed eyebrows. "That doesn't seem like Rachel."

"No, they were just flirting. I don't think anything actually happened."

"Hmm. Well, speaking of flirting, have you seen Artie?" Kurt asked Tina suddenly. "I thought he was supposed to meet us here?"

"Artie and I are _not _together," Tina insisted. "Not even remotely. That ship has sailed and we're just friends now. But no, he's not meeting us. Apparently things got pretty crazy at Puck's house after the guys left. I don't think he's feeling too good."

"That would explain Finn's horrible passing game. His arm is totally weak today," Kurt observed, only to receive incredulous looks from Tina and Mercedes. "_What_? Have you _seen_ who my father is?"

Their surprised laughter was interrupted by Rachel, who came out of nowhere and plopped down next to Kurt without explanation, smoothing down her skirt as she did so. "Hello," she said calmly, eyes already on the field.

"Hey," Kurt replied with mild distaste, subtly scooting away from her. "I thought you normally sat alone, Rachel."

"Well, I figured we all bonded at the party last night and that you wouldn't mind my company," Rachel told them brightly, oblivious to their matching frowns. "Besides, I normally sit off to the side alone in order to lower Quinn's chances of spotting me here, but now… well, you might be surprised to hear this but Finn and I were… somewhat _involved_-"

Kurt let out a gasp while Mercedes and Tina struggled to force looks of shock onto their faces. "No!"

Rachel flushed slightly. "Yes, I know it was wrong, but I ended things last night and recently it's come to my attention that Noah Puckerman can be quite… _charming_. When he isn't making fun of my clothes or slushieing me, that is."

"You're dating Puckerman?" Tina deadpanned.

"Not _dating_, per se. We're talking."

"And you don't think this seems a little sudden?" Mercedes pointed out.

"Well, he had to get around to me eventually," Rachel surmised. "And I admire his dedication considering moving in on his best friend's crush is bound to cause some personal problems. Clearly he thinks I'm worth the risk. Finn would never risk anything to try and be in a real relationship with me."

"Real relationship," Kurt echoed with a raised eyebrow. "Are you sure we're talking about the same Puck here?"

"Absolutely," Rachel replied mildly, a small smile gracing her lips. "He said he had a thing for my nose."

* * *

><p>The game turned out to be mostly uneventful, but ended with a McKinley winning score of 7-0, courtesy of Sam's good running skills and Karofsky's ability to block three players at once with his body. Kurt and Tina left together as soon as the game was over, but Mercedes and Rachel stuck around and waited for the players to come out of the locker room. Sam was one of the first ones out and he grinned when he saw Mercedes, falling into step beside her as they walked towards the school's exit.<p>

"Sorry it wasn't more exciting," he apologized as they left the school and headed for the parking lot.

"It's fine. Like I said, I come to every game anyway," Mercedes reminded him. "Besides, you were the one who scored. That was amazing. Even Quinn looked really impressed with you and she spends most of her game time scoping out Rachel and glaring at everyone."

"Thanks. But I don't care what Quinn thinks," he started slowly, not looking at her. "I've heard enough from and about her and her issues to last me a lifetime. I wanna know about you." He shot her a smile and she looked away shyly. "What's your family like? They must really trust you to have left you alone for a weekend like they did."

"They do. But my dad works a lot so I don't get to see him often anyway. It's just that this business trip my mom just happened to go with him, too, so I got left alone this time."

"Oh." Sam nodded. "I guess me and my dad are the same way. Except my parents are divorced. I went a while without seeing him after the divorce and now I see him on some weekends."

"Why didn't you see him at first?" she asked him curiously.

He laughed. "Man, I was pissed. But at least he makes an effort, I guess. I mean, having workaholic parents must have its perks but I don't envy it."

"You get used to it," she explained shortly as they arrived at the cars and Sam's smile faded.

"I guess so. This is me." Sam pointed to a car nearby and they both paused. He shoved his hands into his pockets awkwardly, then, and avoided her eyes. "So, uh… I have to admit, the whole 'game' thing didn't go like I'd hoped it would…"

"What do you mean?" Mercedes questioned, facing him.

"I guess I didn't think it through too well. I mean, we didn't get to talk all that much since I was busy playing, and after last night none of us were really on our games." He looked down at his feet and finished, "I was kinda hoping I'd get more of a chance to impress you."

Mercedes raised both eyebrows. "Impress me? Why?"

He flushed a little. "Well… you seem cool. And nice. And… what I guess I'm trying to say is…" He paused, then heaved a sigh, laughing a little. After another short pause, he finally shook his head and looked up at her. "Do you wanna, maybe… go out to eat sometime, or…?"

If possible, Mercedes' eyebrows went even higher, and she immediately felt her cheeks burn. "Oh! You…"

"Aren't really good at being up front," Sam finished knowingly for her, cringing a little. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I've just never really done this before. All-boys school, you know?"

"Right." There was an awkward pause, and Mercedes bit her lip before a moment, before smiling a little. "Um… I'll think about it."

Sam looked embarrassed. "You'll think about it?"

"Yeah. I've never done this before, either," she told him. "Just… ask me again after school on Monday, okay?"

Apparently a little pleased that he hadn't gotten completely rejected, Sam smiled slightly and nodded his agreement. "Okay. I'll see you Monday, then." He waved a little and started to back away toward his car.

"See you Monday," Mercedes echoed, trying hard to hide a smile of her own.

* * *

><p>After a long weekend and an even longer Monday (keeping a secret from Kurt was about the hardest thing in the world to accomplish, especially when it involved a boy), Mercedes found herself in the choir room along with the rest of the club, sitting in their usual chairs while Will addressed them from near the piano.<p>

"So last Friday we were treated to a somewhat obscure life lesson on growing up from Artie, Puck and Finn through a Blink 182 song," he reminded them, "and a lovely but rule-breaking solo of Five For Fighting's '100 Years' from Kurt-"

"Hey," Kurt interjected quickly, "Tina was on piano, which, in the rules made, qualifies it as a duet performance, even if there was only one singer. Your fault for not clarifying earlier, Mr. Schue."

Will shot him a disapproving look and continued, "Anyway, all that we have left now is Mercedes' solo performance. Mercedes, are you ready?"

Mercedes opened her mouth to confirm, but Rachel jumped in before she could speak.

"Actually, if I may, Mr. Schuester… I know our songs were due on Friday and I was unable to find a song in time due to my excessive anxieties about my first sleepover, but over the weekend Noah and I put together a duet." The entire club looked over at her, surprised, and Will looked ready to turn her down. Rachel cut him off hurriedly, "I know he's already performed this week but it'll mostly just be me singing; he'll only be playing guitar and doing background vocals. Conveying the message in this song is very important to me."

"I, uh, actually kind of put something together over the weekend too," Sam added with a raise of his hand, surprising the club yet again. "It's a solo but I thought maybe since I'm not getting an assignment I could do this one on my own, just this once?"

Mercedes shot him a curious look but he refused to meet her eyes, seemingly embarrassed, and everyone's attention went to Will, who looked hesitant. Finally, he sighed.

"I guess we have three performances today, then."

Rachel hopped up happily and reached for Puck's hand to pull him up to the front with his guitar, an act which didn't go unnoticed, especially by Finn. He glared at Puck as he took a spot on a stool next to Rachel, his guitar already resting on his lap and ready to go. Rachel cued Puck to start playing and immediately launched into a rendition of the Isley Brothers' "Love the One You're With" that left the entire club embarrassed and speechless with the exception of a slightly suspicious Quinn, an as usual out- of-it Brittany, and a silently fuming Finn. Puck smirked throughout the entire song and when it finally ended, he and Rachel sat down next to each other, hands clasped together.

"Well…" Will started awkwardly, "Um…good job, guys. Way to pick a song with a clear message. You're up, Sam."

"Not sure how I'm gonna follow that one," Sam muttered, standing up and grabbing a guitar of his own, then taking a seat on Puck's old stool. "Uh, this song is about how girls sometimes get more crap then they deserve, and… that we should respect them. That's all." He glanced at Quinn first, then looked to Mercedes, who gave him a questioning look. He just smiled and began to strum his guitar, and Mercedes immediately had to struggle not to grin when she recognized the song. He was serenading her.

_I know a girl  
>She puts the color inside of my world<br>But she's just like a maze  
>Where all of the walls are continually changed<br>And I've done all I can  
>To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands<br>Now I'm starting to see  
>Maybe it's got nothing to do with me<em>

_Fathers, be good to your daughters  
>Daughters will love like you do<br>Girls become lovers who turn into mothers  
>So mothers, be good to your daughters too<br>So mothers, be good to your daughters too  
>So mothers, be good to your daughters too<em>

He finished the song and everyone clapped politely as Sam put his guitar up and then took his seat, looking over at Mercedes briefly and then grinning when he saw her shaking her head in disbelief and trying not to smile. Quinn, meanwhile, seemed to be watching Sam an awful lot as Will doled out his usual dose of praise to the blonde boy, and Mercedes furrowed her eyebrows at Quinn before eventually rolling her eyes and then looking to Will again as he finally addressed her.

"Alright Mercedes, think you can follow that up?"

She met Sam's eyes briefly again and they exchanged smiles before she nodded to Will. "I think so, Mr. Schue." She got up and took her place on one of the stools before announcing, "Well, I know we all had a pretty eventful weekend, but I did manage to pick a song, and my theme is that everyone should be themselves and stop worrying about what everyone else thinks." She looked to Quinn. "Even if it's at the cost of something you might care about. Just be yourself." She cued the band and they began to play.

_Three little birds, sat on my window  
>And they told me I don't need to worry<br>Summer came like cinnamon  
>So sweet<br>Little girls double-dutch on the concrete_

_Maybe sometimes, we've got it wrong, but it's alright_  
><em>The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same<em>  
><em>Oh, don't you hesitate<em>

As the band kept playing and the chorus started up, she could tell from the look on Quinn's face that the other girl knew the song was mostly being directed toward her. She kept her hand in Finn's while the tall boy continued to look perturbed beside her (probably still as an after-effect of Rachel's song), but as the song went on, she seemed to grow more and more thoughtful. Above her, Santana was rolling her eyes and Brittany just looked oblivious.

_Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song  
>You go ahead, let your hair down<br>Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,  
>Just go ahead, let your hair down.<em>

_Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song_  
><em>You go ahead, let your hair down<em>  
><em>Sapphire and faded jeans, I hope you get your dreams,<em>  
><em>Just go ahead, let your hair down.<em>

_Oh, you're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow_

New Directions clapped as she finished her song, and she smiled politely at Will as he praised her performance, then stood up and retook her seat. Will dismissed them for the day and Mercedes gathered up her stuff and walked with Kurt to their cars in the parking lot.

"You did great. I hope my name gets drawn next," he told her. "No more sharing the spotlight or having to sing what Rachel wants; how heavenly would that be and _what _is Quinn doing with Sam?" He stared across the parking lot incredulously and Mercedes followed his eyes to see that sure enough, Sam was leaning up against his car while Quinn stood in front of him, obviously in flirt-mode, just judging by her body language. "I can't believe she's moving in on your man. _And _she's still got her claws in Finn, too."

"He's _not _my man, Kurt," Mercedes reminded him, glad now that she hadn't told him about Sam asking her out two days before. There's no telling what his reaction now would be if she had. Still, she hadn't exactly thought that Quinn would consider taking her advice, _or _that Quinn taking her advice would entail hitting on the less-popular Sam. She couldn't help but be disappointed, especially after Sam's song to her. "It's not a big deal."

Kurt sighed. "If you insist. But I still think it was a missed opportunity." He waved goodbye to her with a shrug and turned to go to his own car. Mercedes took one last glance at Sam and Quinn as she reached hers, and took out her keys to unlock it.

Suddenly, she heard Sam call her name, and when she turned, she saw him wave at her excitedly and then brush past Quinn to head towards her. Quinn watched him leave incredulously, before folding her arms over her chest and storming off in the direction of her own car. "Hey! I almost didn't see you there. I'm still waiting on an answer, remember?" Sam told Mercedes brightly when he reached her.

Mercedes looked back at him, confused. "But you and Quinn-"

Now it was Sam's turn to look confused. He laughed. "What? I told you what I thought of Quinn last night. She can flirt all she wants; she's still with Finn and I'm not interested anyway. I mean, if she got something out of the song I sang, great, but I sang it for you." He took off his backpack suddenly and dug through it for a moment, before coming up with two coupons. "Fifty percent off breadsticks at Breadstix," he proposed. "I know it's kinda lame to use coupons, but I'll pay the rest. Friday night?" He saw the look she was shooting him and smiled sheepishly. "Puck gave me a lesson on confidence Sunday. Am I doing better?"

"Miles," she agreed with a nod, accepting a coupon from him. "I'm free at eight."

"Really? I mean… okay, yeah. Eight it is." He shot her another sheepish smile and slung his backpack back over his shoulder, then pocketed his coupon. "I'll see you then. And at Glee practice and in class… but you know what I mean." He left and she smiled as he went, glancing down at the coupon in her hand with pride. After a moment, she unlocked her car and got in, sitting in the seat for a moment before she let out a small sigh and shook her head, then rested her forehead on the steering wheel with a grin.

Kurt was going to kill her for not telling him about this.

* * *

><p><strong>That's the end of Mercedes! Link to the Episode 4 vid is up on my profile; check it out if you want to see who's next :)<strong>


	10. Finn Part 1 of 3

**A/N: Finally, here's the first installment of Finn's chapters! Sorry for the long wait; I wanted to completely finish "Finn" before I posted any of it just to make sure his chapters all made sense as a whole, and Finn's actually my least favorite character on the entire show and apparently it's really_ really_ hard to churn out about 13k words about a character you can't stand lol. Hopefully my personal feelings towards Finn don't come through in his chapters and they're similar in quality to the other characters that came before him.**

**Next up is a character I actually really like who will of course remain a mystery until Finn's chapters have been posted, but hopefully me liking the character will speed the writing process up and the wait won't be as long as this one was.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>It was dark outside when Finn pulled his shoes on and tied the laces up tightly, then got to his feet and moved to examine himself in the mirror in his bathroom. He frowned at his reflection, then left the bathroom and descended down the stairs to the front door. He looked over his shoulder to make sure his mother wouldn't hear him, then ducked out of the house quickly and hurried off of his porch and down the street. He could hear the sound of voices growing louder and louder as he reached his destination, until he finally turned a corner and the voices all rang out as one booming, repeated word.<em>

_ "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" _

_ They'd all been waiting for him in a tight circle that immediately parted when they spotted him, and he slowly made his way into the middle of the circle, looking around at the crowd as he did so. They were all kids from his school, and he recognized several members of New Directions, but there was no sign of Quinn. Rachel was near the front of the crowd, standing just behind Puck, who stood with Finn in the center of the circle, grinning up at him mischievously. "You ready to go, buddy?" he asked, spitting out the last word mockingly. Finn just stared past him at Rachel, who met his eyes briefly, emotionlessly, then looked away and addressed Puck with four words._

_ "Kick his ass, babe."_

Finn's alarm went off and his eyes shot open only to be met with bare, white ceiling. After a moment, he lifted one hand to his head and squeezed his eyes shut with a sigh, then fumbled around with his other hand until it slammed down on the radio, silencing the alarm.

He got dressed and took a shower, then headed into the kitchen to see his mother spreading jam onto a toasted piece of bread. She smiled when she saw him and offered him the toast on a plate. "Did you get a good night's sleep?" she questioned as he sat down to eat it.

"Yeah," he lied, eating quickly to avoid answering any more questions.

* * *

><p>"This is never going to stop being weird."<p>

Santana, Quinn, Brittany, and Mike all looked on from their lunch table as Puck and Rachel ate together at another table nearby, completely separated from their fellow New Directions members. Finn resolutely stared down at his lunch tray from his spot next to Mike, refusing to watch.

"I mean, Puck rejecting sex after that party cancelation was strange enough, but _Berry_?" Santana continued incredulously. "What on earth is he thinking?"

"He mentioned something to me about a Jew fetish," Mike contributed helpfully. "I think Rachel's the only Jewish girl in Lima."

"Look, can we stop talking about Puck and Rachel?" Finn cut in abruptly, surprising the rest of the table. "Yeah, it's weird. So are Sam and Mercedes and nobody stares at the two of them."

"Aw, I think they're cute," Brittany disagreed while Quinn tried to hide a scowl beside her.

"I just miss watching Sam eat with that mouth," Santana added with a smirk. Her expression changed suddenly as she looked at something over Finn's shoulder. "No."

Puck sighed, lunch tray in his hands as he stood behind Finn with Rachel hanging back behind him nervously. "C'mon, guys. It's been _three weeks_. This is total bullshit. Rachel's hot. Can you blame me?"

"Yes," Finn muttered under his breath while Santana did the arguing aloud for him.

"Actually, we can. And Rachel Berry will never be hot. I mean, just _look_ at that sweater."

"I'm right here," Rachel input, sounding hurt.

"Which would be part of the problem," Quinn countered abruptly, gaining everyone's attention as she raised a smug eyebrow at Rachel. "Why don't you go and sit with the rest of the loser table where you belong? Assuming they'll even take you back now that they have Sam, of course."

Puck sighed, resigned, and he and Rachel exchanged a brief look before Rachel frowned and started to head toward the other half of New Directions across the lunchroom. "Hey!" Puck caught her arm briefly and turned her back around. "I didn't get any goodbye mackage."

Finn averted his eyes hastily and the rest of the table looked on in almost fascinated disgust as Puck and Rachel kissed and then parted ways. Puck sat down next to Finn, who subtly shifted away from him. "Happy now?"

"That's disgusting," Santana told him blatantly. "She's not popular, and she's not even pretty. Even Britt skipped her on her makeout list."

"Her nose could've poked my eye out."

Puck stared at the two of them incredulously, then shook his head. "Man, you bitches are lucky you're hot."

* * *

><p>"Hey."<p>

Finn looked up from his shoelaces and straightened his back from his spot on the bench in the locker room, turning his head in the direction of Puck's voice. Sam looked on in amusement from his locker nearby as Finn raised an eyebrow questioningly and Puck gave him the patented male head-nod. "Yeah?"

"I just, you know," Puck told him with an air of apathy, "…figured I should say thanks or something, I guess. You've been cool these past few weeks and I know you used to have that thing for Rachel."

Finn's eyes darted away from Puck and back to his shoes, and he leaned down to finish tying them. "Sure. No problem."

"Alright, cool." Puck began backing out of the locker room, but raised the hand clutching his helmet at the last second and pointed it at Finn emphatically. "Hey, still bros before hoes, man, alright?"

Finn forced a smile and Puck ducked out through the door. It slammed shut behind him with an echo, and Sam immediately snickered as he closed his locker. Finn shot him a glare. "_What_?"

"Dude, the only guys who buy the whole 'bros before hoes' shtick are the single ones."

"I'm dating Quinn," Finn reminded him defensively, standing up and reaching for his helmet.

"Yeah, but you don't even _like _Quinn. And as of a few weeks ago I'm pretty sure _she _digs _me_."

"Yeah, right," Finn laughed out. "Why would she be into you? Besides, I'm pretty sure you have no right to compare girls when you're dating _Mercedes_. Have you two even gone past hand-holding yet?"

"We're taking it slow," Sam told him seriously. "Not all of us get girlfriends just to lose our virginities."

"I'm a virgin," Finn insisted.

"Well… _you_ might be, but give Rachel a few more weeks with Puck and I bet _she_ won't be," Sam pointed out with a piteous look, before tugging his helmet on and brushing past Finn to exit the locker room. "Bro code or no bro code."

Finn stood alone in the room a moment later, eyebrows furrowed in worry and a frown tugging at the corners of his lips.

* * *

><p>"Do you think Rachel would ever have sex with Puck?"<p>

Finn looked to his left as he finished voicing his question, expecting to see Mike returning from the front of the classroom after turning in their latest chemistry lab results, but instead he found a befuddled Santana standing there, staring at him like he had three heads. There was an awkward pause, and then she rolled her eyes dismissively and handed him a flier she held in her hand.

"Look, it's my birthday this Friday night and my father reserved Club Lima for the party. No parents, no Glee losers not approved by yours truly, and all the alcohol we can drink. The whole football team's coming so unless you want your coolness status revoked, you better plan on showing up." Finn looked down at the flier cluelessly and Santana turned to head back to her own table with a toss of her ponytail, but not before adding over her shoulder, "By the way, Berry's probably so desperate by now that she'll sleep with _any _guy willing to give her the time of day. And I'm sure with Puckerman's sudden repulsive interest in her and his fondness for sleeping with intoxicated girls, he's bound to try and sneak her into my party. All the more reason for you to come, Finnocence."

* * *

><p>"Here we go, the moment you guys have been waiting for…" Will told the club with a grin, gripping the lip of the upside-down hat and shaking it back and forth as the papers rustled around inside. "Sectionals are this Sunday, which gives the soloist I draw out of this hat an entire week to prepare a song of their choice. And that lucky soloist will be…"<p>

Kurt leaned forward in his chair hopefully while Quinn sat between him and Finn with her arms crossed apathetically. A row in front of them, Puck absentmindedly picked at a scab on the back of his hand while Rachel sat still with her fingers crossed and her eyes slammed shut, silently mouthing, "Kurt or Finn, Kurt or Finn" with the obvious hope that a decent singer would get the Sectionals solo, leaving herself still in the running for the Regionals drawing.

"…Finn!"

"Yes!" Rachel whispered excitedly, turning and shooting him a beaming grin that had Finn smiling back sheepishly while Kurt deflated two seats over and huffily crossed his arms.

"Alright, Finn," Will addressed him as he set the hat and paper aside. "It's up to you to carry us to a Sectionals victory. I'm sure you'll take this just as seriously as any other New Directions member would."

"That's not saying much," Quinn mumbled with a glance towards a now-yawning Puck, although she shot a small smile Finn's way and squeezed his bicep approvingly.

"We'll meet back here tomorrow afternoon to work on our group number," Will told them as they began to get to their feet. "Santana, Kurt, and Rachel, I want you three to be prepared to stay an extra hour afterward to work on your lead verses."

"I have Cheerios practice," Santana dismissed, already halfway out the door with Brittany hot on her heels. "Besides, those two losers need way more practice than I do."

"That's not-" Will started, sighing when she left without listening to him. After a moment, he forced a smile and his eyes settled on Quinn. "Quinn-"

"I'm not dealing with her," Quinn cut him off with a thin smile. "It's her birthday this week and she gets even more entitled than usual this time every year. Sorry." She made to lead Finn out of the choir room, but Will's attention had already shifted to him and he hastily intercepted them.

"Finn. You and Rachel are our team captains. Santana's been slacking off lately and I think you'd be just the guy to get her back into gear. Have a talk with her about being more committed to New Directions, would you? Tell her if she can't put in some effort, she can't have a solo. Maybe even help her with her singing a little bit since she won't accept help from Kurt, Rachel, and myself. Okay? Great, thanks." He gave Finn a pat on the shoulder while Finn gaped at him, then moved away quickly to discuss dance steps with Mike Chang. Quinn caught sight of the look on Finn's face and rolled her eyes.

"Let's go, Finn. Santana, Brittany, and I are practicing routines at Brittany's house today and you're my ride."

* * *

><p>"Step, kick, step, drop, twist, pop, booty shake, sp- …oh, that's super sexy," Brittany nodded with approval, grinning when Santana shot her a wink and purposely stuck her ass out a little further as she shook it. Quinn shot the two of them a disapproving look and leaned over to hit Santana's arm lightly, distracting her from Brittany. Santana glared at her as she chided them.<p>

"Would you two quit messing around? We have to have this down by next week or Coach Sylvester will kill us. Literally."

Finn suppressed a yawn from his spot on the Pierce's back lawn, where he sat cross-legged and picked at blades of grass while the girls practiced just a few feet away. Even short Cheerios skirts were having a hard time keeping his attention, and the several weeks of football practice he'd been enduring were finally beginning to take a toll on his body.

"Sorry," Brittany said nearby, turning her back to Quinn and Santana and starting the steps over again. "Anyway, after the booty shake and the split, you come back up, spin, step right, left, forward, right, left, back flip, knee down, arms up, and big finish." She ended the routine with two fists in the air and one knee planted on the ground in front of her, while Quinn and Santana looked on, impressed.

"Okay, what order do you do the steps in again?" Quinn asked, joining Brittany on her right side and watching her repeat them. When she was finished, Quinn attempted to copy them while Brittany watched. "Right, left, forward, right…"

"Oh, look at you girls!" a high voice interrupted from near the house, and Finn turned from his spot on the ground to see Mrs. Pierce heading out towards them with a steaming plate of chocolate chip cookies gripped in one hand. "Teaching my Britt-Britt how to dance; how wonderful…" Brittany's smile dropped to a frown and she grudgingly accepted the cookies from her mother while Santana and Quinn exchanged uncomfortable looks. "Careful, honey, don't drop the plate. And remember, don't put hot things in your mouth too quickly or they'll burn. I wouldn't want my special girl hurting herself." She patted Brittany's head lovingly and then kissed her temple, before smiling at the other two girls and Finn and then turning and heading back inside.

"I hate her," Brittany deadpanned as soon as she was gone.

"We'll go to my house next time," Santana promised, taking the cookies from her and stalking over to Finn. "Down these before Britt's mom comes back, Finnbred. We can't have sweets."

Finn perked up immediately and accepted the plate with a grin. "Thanks."

She rolled her eyes at him and turned around halfway to see that Quinn had gone back to learning the steps from Brittany. Finn followed her gaze and grudgingly forced himself to speak.

"So, uh… Mr. Schue wants me to help you out with your singing."

She faced him again abruptly, raising an eyebrow at him. "Who says I need help at all?"

"Well… everyone could use some practice," Finn pointed out with a shrug. "And I know how much you don't like Kurt and Rachel, so if I help you instead of Mr. Schue, you don't have to be around them as much. It'll be just you and me." He let out a breath once his pitch was done, half-hoping she'd turn him down, but Santana was smirking at him now.

After a quick glance towards Quinn and Brittany, she replied, "Just you and me, huh?" Finn's face reddened and he was pretty sure a chill ran down his spine. "Fine. My house after practice tomorrow. Don't be late."

With that, she left him sitting there, plate of cookies still in his hand.

* * *

><p>"I'm kinda scared of Santana."<p>

"Aren't we all?" Mike replied with a sigh as he paused by his locker in the locker room and began to twist the lock. "Thank God Rachel asked me to dance with her during their Sectionals number, that way Santana can't."

"Dammit," Finn cursed, remembering. "That's right; it's a dance number and they're each supposed to pick a partner. Do you think Santana will pick me?"

Mike laughed. "If she's an idiot. Nobody wants your dancing put in the spotlight, dude; we'll lose for sure."

"That's true," Finn mumbled. "I wonder why Rachel didn't pick Puck, though."

"You know how she is," Mike replied. "Always gotta be the best she can be. I guess she figured I was the best guy dancer."

"You are."

Mike chuckled. "Thanks. Anyway, it seems like Kurt's got the same strategy because he picked Brittany. So Santana's stuck choosing between you, Sam, and Puck…and Artie too, I guess."

"You know, I think Rachel and Puck seemed kinda awkward today," Finn continued, oblivious to the way Mike pulled a face in response. "Maybe he was upset she didn't pick him."

"Well, if Quinn was supposed to pick a dance member for Sectionals and didn't pick you, would you-?" He cut himself off and finished, "Never mind; I _still _can't use you two for comparison. Now that you aren't cheating on her anymore, I keep forgetting you and Quinn are still a total sham and you both are into other people."

Finn glared at him as Mike closed his locker and began to don his football gear. "Are you talking about Sam? Quinn doesn't like him."

"Yeah, okay. Have you seen the way she looks at Mercedes and Sam during lunch? I don't know when it happened, but when it did, it was in a big way. If you're not careful she's gonna dump you and go for Sam full-time." He paused. "Then again, if you're in love with Rachel it shouldn't matter what Quinn does."

Finn sighed as both of them pulled on their helmets and began the trek down to the football field. "You're right. It's just that being popular is all I have going for me right now. I don't know if I can give all that up for Rachel. And she has Puck now, anyway."

"Right. And Puck's world hasn't ended. The only people treating him worse are _our _lunch table."

Finn felt like he'd been hit in the head with a mallet. "Dude…you're right."

Mike raised an eyebrow at him as they walked. "Uh…duh? Man, use your brain for once. Dating Rachel is not the kiss of death you think it is. I dated Tina. There's Puck and Rachel. And Sam is dating Mercedes. You're the only one freaking out about popularity. It's really not the end of the world."

"So what you're saying," Finn replied slowly, "is that when Puck and Rachel show up to Santana's party, I should find Rachel and tell her that I'm ready to date her, then once she breaks up with Puck, I'll go and break up with Quinn, and then Rachel and I can be together?" Mike opened his mouth to respond, but Finn grinned and clapped him on the back. "Thanks, man. I'm glad we had this talk." He upped his pace to a jog and reached the field ahead while Mike stopped in place, staring straight ahead awkwardly.

"Well, that didn't exactly go the way I expected."

* * *

><p>After a long practice, a shower, and a reminder from Coach Beiste of their final game to take place in two days, Finn met Quinn, Santana, and Brittany -fresh from the end of their Cheerios practice- out in the hall near the locker rooms. He addressed Santana with "So I guess-?" but no sooner had he started speaking than Santana grabbed Brittany's wrist and began tugging her away towards the parking lot.<p>

"See you tomorrow, Fabray," she shot back as she left. "Finnocence." She gave him a quick meaningful look that he took to serve as a reminder of their planned meeting. So they were doing it behind Quinn's back.

"More secrets," he muttered to himself.

Quinn looked over at him questioningly. "Hmm?"

"Uh, nothing." He took her hand and led her out to his car silently. On the way there they passed Sam, who caught sight of them and waved awkwardly. Finn glanced down at Quinn to see her smile slightly and wave back, and his eyes narrowed slightly until they reached his car and he held the door open for her.

Once they were both inside the car and were pulling out onto the street, Finn cleared his throat and began, "So… what's up with you and Sam?"

Quinn stiffened beside. "Sam and I? Nothing. We hardly talk and he's with Mercedes."

"Right." Finn sighed quietly and focused on his driving, and their car ride remained awkwardly silent until they reached Quinn's home.

* * *

><p>"Come in."<p>

Finn looked around, intimidated, as Santana beckoned him inside her mansion of a home and led him to a large spiral staircase just a few feet from the front door.

"My parents aren't home so you can stay as long as you want," she offered as he trailed after her, still examining his surroundings with something akin to wonder. She peered over her shoulder as they reached her bedroom and rolled her eyes at the look on his face, before pushing the door open and stepping inside. He hesitated while she held the door open for him, then nervously took a couple steps inside and let her close the door behind him. "So," she continued when he remained silent and fidgety, "let's get to the point, Hudson. What exactly is the plan here?"

Finn gulped as she stared at him, arms folded across her chest. "Well…uh, I thought maybe we could just try out a couple duets together, just to make sure your voice is ready for the competition."

Santana chuckled mockingly. "That's cute. No. Here's what we're _really _gonna do." She stepped closer to him and he swallowed hard again. "We're gonna practice your dancing, so that when you dance with me at Sectionals you don't ruin the entire performance."

"But…wouldn't Sam or Puck be-?"

"Sam and Puck have girlfriends," Santana countered, cutting him off. "Sam and Puck aren't the quarterback _and _captain of our football team."

"Why does everyone keep forgetting I'm dating Quinn?" Finn reminded her, irritated.

Santana stared at him for a moment, clearly annoyed, and then sighed loudly and shook her head, walking over to her bed. "Sit down, Finn," she ordered, patting the comforter twice. When Finn didn't move, she raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head toward the bed. Slowly and unsurely, he made his way to it and sat down on the edge. Santana took a spot standing up in front of him. "Okay, here's how this is gonna go: I'm gonna talk, and you're gonna shut up and listen until I'm done. You want us to win Sectionals, right?" Finn nodded emphatically, wide-eyed. "Good. Say one word without me directly addressing you and I'll not only pick you to dance with me, I also won't practice with you, rendering you completely incompetent at the competition. Not only will Rachel hate you for single-handedly causing us to lose, the rest of the Glee losers will as well."

Finn blinked at her, scared now, as she crossed her arms and took a deep breath. "Look, it's become relatively clear to anyone with a brain that you and Quinn are on the rocks. You're losing power couple status faster than Weezy sucks up her daily mountain of tator tots at lunch. I know you want to be popular, and I know you don't want Quinn knowing you cheated on her with Rachel, although I'm not sure how she hasn't figured it out yet because you're so pathetically obvious." She punctuated her statement with another eye-roll. "Personally, I would love to see you two crash and burn, and I know you would love to see Rachel jealous. I want Head Cheerleader. You want Rachel away from Puck. You help me become more popular than Quinn, and I'll help make what _you _want happen. Sound good?"

"But…how?"

"You dump Sister Christian and hook up with me instead," she told him simply. "At my party Friday night, we show everyone we're together. I get a boost in popularity and Quinn gets booted to Loserville, and Rachel sees you in a relationship she actually thinks is real, as opposed to the horribly faux monstrosity that is you and Quinn together. It's win/win."

"So…" Finn said, squinting his eyes and drawing the word out, "…like beards?"

Santana colored rapidly. "No, you idiot. Beards don't actually _do _anything with each other, and I don't do this half-assed, got it? If you're in…" She stepped closer to him and reached out, and Finn's eyes glued themselves to her finger as it trailed down his chest, "…you better be committed to making this as authentic as possible."

"I…I don't know," he replied, leaning back nervously. "Quinn-"

"Doesn't even like you," Santana interrupted, aggravated. "You are such a loser. No wonder you want Rachel; you two make the perfect pair." She stepped away from him, then, and pointed to her bedroom door. "Get out."

"Wait, wait," Finn insisted, standing up hastily. "I just… I don't know if I can do this to Rachel and Quinn. And… I mean, no offense 'cause you're super hot, but you're not really my type."

Santana immediately looked offended. "Okay first of all, I'm everyone's type. Secondly, don't think for a _second _that you're my type and that I'd ever enjoy any amount physical contact with you. This is gonna suck for both of us."

"Then why offer?"

"Because screwing around with you is better than the alternative," she explained. When he still looked uncertain, she let out a sigh and lowered her voice. "Look… I'll kill you if you ever bring up me admitting this ever again… but I really need this right now. Puck chose Rachel over me and it's getting around, okay? This is the perfect way for us to get what we want."

Finn stared at her for a moment, then groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Alright, alright. I'll do it. Just please don't say anything to Quinn before I can."

"Deal." Santana held out her hand suggestively. "Now, time for you to learn how to dance."

* * *

><p>"So have you figured out what song you're singing, yet?"<p>

Finn's face dropped at his mother's question and he put his fork down as Carole stared at him from across the table. "No, not yet."

"I thought you said Sectionals was this Sunday."

"It is." Finn swallowed nervously. "I already have to learn a dance by then, too, and I have the big game Friday night and a… a friend's birthday party. How am I supposed to do this?"

"You just have to plan out these things ahead of time, honey," Carole advised. "Why don't you spend tonight and tomorrow working on your song and your dancing, and then you'll be free on Friday to do what you want, and on Saturday you can tie up any loose ends and be ready for Sunday." She smiled at him and began to collect the dishes on the table, taking them to the sink to wash them.

"And in the mean time," Finn muttered to himself, "I also have to break up with Quinn, date Santana, and win Rachel back." He sighed. "Great."

With dinner over, he told his mom he was going to his room and then took the stairs two at a time, digging his Ipod out of his pocket on the way up and then turning it on and scrolling through his songs, even pressing play on a few and trying to sing along with them to see how well he'd sound. He knew he needed something slow; something that didn't require a dance and he could stand still while singing.

He'd just have to keep looking until he found the right one.


End file.
